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00giovedì 5 giugno 2014 12:58
Tuam case ‘reminder of a darker past in Ireland’
Government actively considering Tuam mother-and-baby home deaths, says Charlie Flanagan
The Government is giving “active consideration” to addressing the issue of children who died many years ago in mother and baby homes.
Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Charlie Flanagan said a number of departments are involved in the process of addressing the issues involved.
The revelations that 796 babies died in a mother and baby home in Tuam from 1925 to 1961 and were possibly buried in a septic tank has put renewed focus on such homes.
Mr Flanagan described the latest revelations as “deeply disturbing and a shocking reminder of a darker past in Ireland when our children were not cherished as they should have been.”
He stopped short of saying what the initiative would involve but the opposition have been calling for an apology for those mothers and babies who were incarcerated in them, a public inquiry and in Sinn Féin’s case compensation through the redress scheme.
Mr Flanagan added: “I am particularly mindful of the relatives of those involved and of local communities. There are a number of Government Departments involved in this process. The cross-departmental initiative underway will examine these matters and report to Government on how they might be addressed.”
Fianna Fáil has called on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to apologise on behalf of the State. There have been calls this week for an inquiry, including a Garda investigation, into the circumstances surrounding the unexplained deaths of a large number of children at the Co Galway home.
Following research by a local Tuam historian Catherine Corless into the operation of the mother-and-baby home run by the Sisters of Bon Secours congregations there, it emerged that up to 796 children may have died at the home during the period of its operation from 1925 to 1961.
Records at Galway County Council list a very large number of deaths occurring at the home. Details are also emerging of the discovery in the 1970s of a large number of unidentified remains in a water tank close to the home, leading some to conclude that deceased children were disposed of in the tank without a proper burial or any records being kept on their interment.
Fianna Fáil Galway East TD Colm Keaveney said today: “These shocking revelations about the appalling treatment of hundreds of babies and their mothers must be dealt with by the highest levels in Government.
“We need to hear from the Taoiseach today about the Government’s plans to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of these children, the dumping of their remains, the treatment of their mothers and the State’s role in the activities at this home.
“I believe that this must begin with a fulsome apology from the Taoiseach on behalf of the State. Whatever the results of any investigation it’s now clear that at the very least, these infants and their mothers were grossly mistreated at the Tuam home and were subsequently neglected by the State.”