INTRODUCTION
Friends,
Seeing so many of you gathered for this important event gives me hope.
Hope that Ireland has turned a corner, and is ready to uncover, confront and accept painful truths from its recent past.
This is important. Because it is only by accepting this truth that we can ensure that the injustices from that time never happen again.
It is of course true that it falls to Government to provide leadership in finding that truth.
As Minister responsible for the Mother and Baby Home Commission, and leading the response to its findings I have been looking at how we can best fulfill that role.
However, the wrongs of the past involved a lot more than Government.
The incarceration of women and children was carried out by the Government, Church, Religious Orders and Society as a whole acting together.
It is simply not feasible, credible or believable that people did not know what was happening in our cities, towns and villages – and for many families happening in their own home.
This was an injustice carried out on a national scale – and the response must be just as a wide-ranging.
I want to whole-heartedly congratulate and acknowledge the work of Alison Lowry and the National Museum of Ireland.
By staging this year-long installation ‘(A) Dressing Our Hidden Truth An artistic response to the legacy of Magdalene Laundries, Mother and Baby Homes and Industrial Schools’ you have stood up to the plate and set an example which I hope many others will follow.
What happened was gender injustice and the installation links that past with those injustices which continue today, domestic violence, sexual assault and rape.
Through this work the wrongs of the past and the wrongs of today have been connected like never before.
It captures exactly why we must confront those past injustices – because it is only by doing so that we can find help those who live in fear of their lives in our communities today.
I want this evening to encourage every school, every youth club and organisation to include Alison’s moving and thought provoking work as part of any visit to Dublin.
As we gather this evening it is fitting that I would also use this opportunity to give an update on the work of the Commission and my Department in responding to the issue of Mother and Baby Homes.
COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION
You will all be aware that a Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes was established by Government to provide a full account of what happened to vulnerable women and children in these Homes.
The scope of the Commission’s remit is broad, and includes several specific areas of practice and procedure in the care, welfare, entry arrangements and exit pathways for the women and children who were residents of the named 14 institutions and a representative sample of County Homes.
The Commission will establish how Irish society responded to single women and their children at a time when they most needed our support and assistance.
The Commission is due to submit its Final Reports by next February.
I understand and accept that there is impatience amongst many to see this work concluded.
Many of those most impacted by the homes and institutions involved have now reached a great age – and want to see the truth established and accepted before the reach the end of their lives.
For this reason I have been determined to ensure that we do not stand still while waiting for the Commission to complete its important work.
There are actions which can take place side by side or in tandem to the efforts of the Commission, although at all times we must ensure that these do not interfere or cut across that work.
BURIALS REPORT
With that in mind the Commission submitted a Burials Report to me on 15th March – less than two weeks ago.
The report focuses on the burial arrangements of persons who died while resident in some of these institutions.
I can confirm the report is substantial.
It includes extensive technical details prepared in the course of the Commission’s investigations into the burial site associated with the former Tuam Mother and Baby Home and the Commission’s assessment of burial arrangements at other institutions within its remit.
It is my firm intention to seek formal Government approval to publish the report as soon as possible after I have had an opportunity to consider its findings and consult the Attorney General.
I have given a commitment to advise representative groups, and those who have been in contact with the department on these matters, of developments prior to any public announcement.
With this in mind I do not propose to comment on the contents of the report at this juncture.
COLLABORATIVE FORUM
It is also important that as a Government we listen to and take on board the views and concerns of those most affected by homes and institutions.
As Minister I established a Collaborative Forum to do this.
Since receiving the first report from the forum, I have been actively seeking to progress the various recommendations for which I have direct responsibility.
Many of the recommendations in the report relate to issues beyond the direct scope of my Department.
With this in mind, my officials and I have been in consultation with various Government Departments to advance measures in response to the recommendations which relate to their portfolios.
The Chairman of the Forum has stepped down and I will be meeting with its members in the coming weeks to discuss the report and the mandate of the Forum going forward.
MEMORIALISATION
It is common to say that Ireland has changed. That we live in a country which is nothing like the one I arrived in during the 1980’s and certainly a lot different from the Ireland of the 40s, 50s and 60s.
While much has changed in Irish society since these institutions were in operation, we must understand, and learn from, our past.
A remembrance of the past is vital. Not forgetting it, or simply moving on, but acknowledging, knowing, recording, and building on it; using our past to help us to move forward as a nation.
Memorialisation is one of the key areas being examined by the Collaborative Forum and something I am committed to progressing with former residents of these institutions, and their families.
Artists, historians and those who have a passion for Irish culture will all have a role in this process.
I have engaged with Irish artists not just here at home but also in the United States to see how we can best do this.
Alison, you have shown us here what can be achieved.
Your work will impact on everyone who views it.
It is informative, educational and deeply deeply moving.
People of all ages will be deeply affected – it will stay in their memories for ever.
For many it will be a difficult and highly emotional experience.
You have shown a spotlight on the truth – no matter how uncomfortable that may be.
I encourage others to follow your lead.
Work such as yours is helping Ireland become a country which is equal, caring and just.
A country where this is no longer dark secrets – where people who have done no wrong are no longer judged, banished or incarcerated.
Accepting our past is the only way we can ensure such wrongs are never repeated again.
It will also encourage those who continue to suffer at the hands of abusers today to come forward – to seek help whether from the agencies of the state or those frontline organisations such as the Rape Crisis Centres, refuges and Women’s Aid.
As a Government Minister I can also say that it is a reminder to those in power that we must never be complacent when it comes to combatting gender based violence and injustice.
With this in mind – it is an honour to official open ‘(A) Dressing Our Hidden Truth’ by Alison Lowry in the National Museum of Ireland.