Seanad debates
Tuesday, 11 June 2024
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Mother and Baby Homes
1:00 pm
Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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The site at Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, County Tipperary, was home to one of Ireland's most infamous mother and baby homes, operational from 1931 to 1969. During this time, 6,414 women were admitted and 6,079 children were born there. Within two years of it opening, it was acknowledged that there was a problem with infant mortality and the congregation sent a representative to investigate the cause. 1,090 infants and children born or admitted to the home are known to have died. As part of the mother and baby home commission of investigation, geophysical surveys and small-scale excavations took place at the Sean Ross Abbey site in Roscrea site. The geophysical survey took place in January 2019 and an independent inspection of the drains in proximity to the site took place in February 2019.The investigations took place on a small section of the site at Sean Ross covering around 10% of the ground surface. According to the commission's findings, the total possible number of infants and children represented in the excavation was just 42. There was significant inconsistency in record keeping across the mother and baby homes. In the case of Sean Ross specifically, registers of burials were not maintained. There is, however, a small, designated burial ground on the site, and this is where the commission established that the confined remains of some children were located. These burials, according to the commission, were organised in terms of their layout and concentration, and the fact that evidence of coffins was located with the majority of skeletal remains. Despite this fact, the commission was only able to identify the individual remains of just 42 children. Given the spatial constraints of the angels plot in Sean Ross, it is unfeasible that the remainder of the burials occurred there and because of this, we cannot say with any certainty where the remains of some 1,000 infants and children lie.
Further geophysical surveys of the Sean Ross site, which have been undertaken by survivor groups that are independent of the commission in the years since its final report was published, have identified certain anomalies that require further analysis. The most recent of these surveys was undertaken in October 2023, led by survivor group We Are Still Here. It identified anomalies at a number of different locations on the Sean Ross site. I have had a separate survey undertaken on the site, arranged by the survivor group Bring Them Home, which corroborates the findings as they relate to the identification of significant anomalies on the site. It is my understanding that the findings of the October 2023 survey were to be sent to the Department. There has been no response so far, to the best of my knowledge, to the request that the Department would also consider its own analysis in consideration of those new findings.
In submitting this Commencement matter this morning, I am asking for an update regarding the Department's analysis of these updated surveys, the extent to which the findings depart from those of the commission in 2019, and the steps the Minister intends to take as it relates to potential further investigation or excavation of the Sean Ross site. At the children's committee, there was huge scrutiny around the scope of the burials Act, and again, under scrutiny, the Civil Engagement Group flagged many concerns about its narrowness. With regard to the Act, our fear was that the provisions of the Bill were too restrictive such that further investigation would be precluded from being undertaken at the sites where manifestly inappropriate burials were suspected to have taken place outside of the Bon Secours home in Tuam.
While the nature of the burials at Tuam differs to other mother and baby homes in a specific way, this is not to say that other sites should not be investigated further. As the Minister of State will no doubt understand, the absence of clarity and realisation that closure may continue to evade survivors and families will arouse profound hurt and compound existing trauma. Could the Minister of State provide an update regarding the Department's analysis of these new surveys, how they depart from those surveys and how we can potentially move forward in investigating or excavating the site at Sean Ross Abbey?
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Ruane for raising this issue and for providing such a detailed overview to the House. I apologise if there is an element of repetition in my reply with respect to what the Senator has already stated but I think it is important, for the record, to state the exact context and exactly what the Government is doing and has been doing in partnership with the Senator and so many other Members of both Houses.
The former mother and baby institution in Sean Ross Abbey, County Tipperary, which operated between 1931 and 1969, was owned and run by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The institution came under the remit of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters. The commission’s fifth interim report, which looked at burial arrangements in the institutions, states that over 1,000 children died in Sean Ross or in the district hospital in Roscrea, to which children in the institution were sent when they became very ill. The report also notes the commission was made aware of concerns about the designated child burial ground in the grounds of the institution and, on foot of this, it had decided to undertake a geophysical study and test excavation of the site.
The commission’s final report included the Report of Forensic Archaeological Investigations at Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home Children’s Burial Ground. The report found that infant human burials were located across the children’s burial ground and that these had not been impacted by any utilities or drainage works. The report notes that coffins, or evidence of coffins, were located with the majority of remains.
As set out in its final report, the commission was satisfied that the forensic report provided clear evidence that the coffined remains of children under the age of one are buried in the designated burial ground.It noted that without complete excavation it was not possible to say conclusively that all of the children who died in Sean Ross were buried in the designated burial ground and that it did not consider that further investigation was warranted.
However, following the publication of the commission’s final report, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth engaged with a group of survivors on their concerns that an area beyond the acknowledged burial ground, which was not part of the commission’s forensic investigations at Sean Ross Abbey, may also contain graves. The group requested funding from the Minister’s Department to undertake a geophysical survey in order to establish if there is evidence of burials in the area adjacent to the burial ground. This request was approved by the Minister last year.
The group then engaged a company to undertake a geophysical survey of the area and this was carried out in late 2023. The group submitted a report of the survey to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. As there is no expertise in that Department to assess the report, the chief archaeologist in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has been asked to review it. When that review has been completed, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth will update the group on any findings and then sit down and see where we go from here.
Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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The final part is the most important part there. The groups involved felt their analysis had been done and then there had been radio silence rather than a response to it. The insight that those with the expertise required to review the findings are currently reviewing them is helpful. Will the Minister of State relay to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, that it might be helpful if he gave an updated timeline to the survivor groups in order that they are not waiting for information? Waiting has played a huge role for anyone who experienced institutionalisation in Ireland. They always seem to be waiting for something, whether it is redress, answers or justice. Where there is space to provide them with adequate information on the steps being taken, we should use that and communicate effectively with the groups. Will the Minister of State relay to the relevant Minister that he should update the groups on the plan and timeline of the review?
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I am more than happy to do that and I will have the official correspondence sent to the Minister in due course. The main point is it is with the chief archaeologist in a different Department. I do not think any of us here are archaeologists, though I am open to correction, so we cannot put an exact timeframe on a review of a file like this, given the massive amount of work that goes into that office, with excavations, building works and reviews in many areas. When the work is completed, we will see a bit more progress. In the meantime, I will get the Minister to maybe even just make the point it is with the chief archaeologist. There is not silence and it has not been forgotten about. A lot of work and effort has gone into the issue by many people outside of government. The Government knows its responsibilities and will step up to the plate.
Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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Okay. Thank you.