Taoiseach Calls Treatment of Women and Babies in Church Run Homes "an Abomination" As Commission of Inquiry to Be Carried out

By Sarah Bardon
Irish Mirror
June 10, 2014

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/taoiseach-calls-treatment-women-babies-3668951

The full, sickening history of mother and baby homes across Ireland is to be investigated by the State, it was confirmed today.

As Enda Kenny called the past treatment of mums and tots an “abomination”, Children’s Minister Charlie Flanagan revealed the Commission of Inquiry will have the power to compel witnesses to testify.

He said it will examine:

FORCED adoptions

BURIALS, and

CLINICAL trials on young children in an attempt to shine a light on “these dark periods”.

And the Government is demanding the Church supports the massive trawl of homes.

Mr Flanagan said: “It is my hope and determination to ensure all of these issues are dealt with in a way that is comprehensive.

“We must use this time to seek the truth, rather than maintaining an element of speculation.

“I think the Government has shown its willingness to confront these issues by announcing a Commission of Investigation which will have full statutory powers.” He urged the Church to hand over any documents it has to help the

inquiry and confirmed the Bethany Homes will come within the scope.

Children's Minister Charlie Flanagan

The discovery of the mass grave in Tuam, Co Galway, sparked fears the same thing happened in mother and baby homes across the country.

It also led to disturbing revelations that children were used as guinea pigs for medical trials and how some kids were taken from their mothers parents and sold for adoption.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Government must get any probe right and will deal with all the issues in the most compassionate way it can.

He added: “This is about examining a period where women, particularly young women, were silenced.

“It is not an exaggeration to say their treatment and that of their babies was an abomination.

In that regard, this inquiry will consider a time where there was a disturbing symbiosis between Church and State where sin became not a civil wrong but a societal offence.”

The Children’s Minister said it wouldn’t get involved in the work of the gardai and any criminal investigation would be a matter for the force.

He added this could be in parallel to the Commission of

Investigation’s work.

Minister Flanagan denied the Government was slow to set up an inquiry despite his department having a report about the issue for 18 months.

He said the last thing the country needed was for the Commission to drag on and said the Cabinet was conscious this wouldn’t go on too long.

An inter-departmental group set by the minister will report back to Cabinet before June 30, which will shape the terms of reference and the remit and the make-up of the committee.

The ISPCC added the revelations reminded the country of its appalling treatment of children and how the State let down its most innocent.

Chief executive Ashley Balbirnie said “time and time again” we had failed our nation’s kids.

She added: “It is a sad, shameful discovery that almost 800 children (in the Tuam case) have been failed so terribly and we fear these revelations are just the tip of the iceberg.

“We are judged by how we treat children. We need to learn from the past and treat our children with the respect and dignity that is their right.”