Truth body to record homes abuses

The Government wants to establish a South African-style truth commission to publicly record the wide-scale abuse in mother and baby homes.

It now looks certain that the scope of the commission will be widened to include all homes across the country, but Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone is anxious that there is justice for all victims and their families as the scale of the scandal unfolds.

Ms Zappone is now considering a separate and much wider “transitional justice” system — similar to what was introduced after apartheid in South Africa — to allow victims be heard and possibly pave the way for some form of reparation.