Yesterday.

Dáil Éireann.

TDs debated a Sinn Fein amendment to the government’s redress scheme which excludes adopted people who spent less than six months following birth in a Mother and Baby home.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said:

“I am telling the Minister now that he will have to revisit this. Arbitrary time periods, or tables of compensation linked to time periods, are offensive.

They completely fail to take into account the reality of coerced, forced separation of mothers from children. The trauma, suffering, impact and lifelong and varying consequences are unique to every single case.

There should be no attempt to try to link those consequences to arbitrary time periods in an institution, or to a table with amounts of money linked to time periods, and it is offensive to do so.

“I ask the Minister to think about it. It is shocking and he will have to revisit it.

“I was born in a mother and baby home and from what I understand, I was in two mother and baby homes. I do not know how long I was in them and I am sure many others do not know how long they were in them either.

“The impact could be horrendous if you were in a home for one day and it could be somewhat less if you were in one for six months, depending on the outcome. However, in every case, the primal wound of children being separated from their mothers and mothers being separated from their children is a crime that was committed by the church and State against tens of thousands of mothers and children.

“To create arbitrary thresholds that you reach, where the State considers you worthy of redress, is absolutely offensive.

I know the Minister did not mean to be offensive, but the problem with this whole sorry saga, which is about the crimes of the church and the State against mothers and children and their then trying to cover their backs and limit the damage, is that he has ended up compounding the hurt, insult, abuse and trauma perpetrated against mothers and children and retraumatising the victims. It is obnoxious. I know the Minister did not mean to be obnoxious, but that is the net result.”

Galway West independent TD Catherine Connolly said:

“In the past Ireland has been criticised for its narrow interpretation of the category of persons who should qualify… All participants emphasised how the Final Report failed to recognise the gravity and magnitude of the human rights violations that occurred in Mother and Baby Homes and related institutions… [They reported] a perceived lack of recognition [I would go much stronger than that] of trauma of being separated from mother or child and the ‘family destruction’ therein.

“The Minister has come forward with a scheme and, notwithstanding his best efforts, he is now perpetuating that discrimination all over again and adding to survivors’ trauma, whether he likes it or not.”

Opposing the amendment, Anne Rabbitte, Minister of State at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, said:

“I acknowledge the amendment to the motion tabled this evening. I value all contributions from Deputies on this most important of issues. However, the motion calls for action that would be grossly unconstitutional. The Chamber cannot and should not seek to pre-empt or anticipate matters that are under the examination of the courts. The Government simply cannot support the amendment…”

Last night: Disappointment And Disgust

Transcripts via Oireachtas.ie

Thanks Breeda