Taoiseach defends Coalition's record on mother and baby homes after review scrapped

Micheál Martin said his Government achieved more in relation to information and tracing than previous administrations had

Micheál Martin said Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman has 'worked very hard with survivors on very challenging issues and has delivered on quite a number of those'. Picture: Brian Lawless

The Taoiseach has strongly defended the current Government’s record on mother and baby homes after it emerged that a promised independent review has been scrapped. 

Micheál Martin has said the current coalition has achieved far more, especially in relation to information and tracing, than previous governments.

It comes after it was revealed that Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman has abandoned plans to appoint an international independent expert to review the testimony provided by 500 people to the confidential committee of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation. 

Pointing to a number of actions that have been already been delivered by Mr O’Gorman, the Taoiseach said: “The minister will continue to work with survivors in respect of that particular issue, but I think he’s worked very hard with survivors on very challenging issues and has delivered on quite a number of those, which previous Dáils and previous Oireachtas’ found very difficult to deal with, particularly on access to information.”

Campaigners had hit out at the commission’s final report, claiming that they felt it did not reflect the lived experiences or the information survivors had provided.

Survivors were further outraged when commission member Mary Daly claimed that the information they provided did not meet the “robust legal standards of evidence” needed to be included in the main report and it would have taken “a lot of additional time” to cross-reference and integrate it into their work.

In the wake of Prof Daly’s comments, Mr O’Gorman said that he would have the testimony independently reviewed by an international expert. However, the Department of Children is no longer progressing with this review and instead will allow survivors to have their testimony housed in a planned National Centre for Research and Remembrance.

Asked about this, Mr Martin said:

This Government has made very significant progress in respect of the action plan we announced coming out of the commission of inquiry. 

Mr Martin said that the Commission of Investigation had “very specific legal frameworks governing it” and “it is not open to governments to change the outcomes of commissions of inquiry”.

“But the Minister will work and continue to work with survivors in making sure that their personal testimonies, the entirety of their personal testimonies can be on the public record.”

He pointed to a number of actions, including the Information and Tracing Bill, which will allow adoptees access to birth certs and other information, that Mr O’Gorman has delivered.

“He’s worked to deal with the issues that were prioritised, namely access to information, and this Government has managed to deal with that issue comprehensively through the legislation that has gone through the Oireachtas and which gives unfettered access to people’s identities, which is very important.”

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Mr Martin added that legislation that will allow for exhumation of the bodies found in a septic tank on the site of the former Tuam mother and baby home is significant.

“Thirdly then, in terms of the payments issue, redress, that will come forward in legislation in this session of Oireachtas and over €800m has been allocated for redress,” Mr Martin told reporters in Monaghan.