The members of this Commission have steadfastly refused to appear before our Committee to answer questions
The Mother and Baby Homes report has rewritten Irish history and must be repudiated by the government, according to Social Democrats TD, and Oireachtas Children’s Committee member, Holly Cairns.
“Following the participation of one of the members of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission at a seminar in Oxford University, I have written to the Oireachtas Children’s Committee requesting that we again invite members of the Commission to the Committee to discuss their report.
“The members of this Commission have steadfastly refused to appear before our Committee to answer questions about this hugely controversial report into a very dark chapter of our history.
“But, this report isn’t history to the survivors. They lived it – and are still living with the consequences of what they suffered.
“It is therefore incredulous that the first time a member of the Commission spoke publicly about this report was at an academic seminar – some five months after its publication – to which survivors were not invited.
“For those five months, survivors have been denied answers about the manner in which it was compiled – why their testimony was not deemed credible. This stonewalling, by the Commission, has caused a huge amount of hurt and anger. It is not good enough.
“It is hard for many to understand why one of the Commissioners agreed to discuss the report at an academic seminar, but unwilling to come before the Oireachtas Committee.
“It is even harder to understand how the Commission report’s findings were, in so many cases, contradictory to the testimony of survivors. To give just one example: that there was no evidence of forced adoption.
“Given what we know now about the methodology that was used to prepare this report, the Government must repudiate the report and produce the underlying archive. Survivors must be given the administrative files and all of their personal data.
“Crucially, the government needs to repudiate the report. Survivors were denied fair procedures. This report is rewriting people’s lived experience and, with it, Irish history.”
3 June, 2021
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