New start sought for mother and baby survivors
by Bernard Harbor
 
Shane Lambert said that Fórsa fully supports the survivors and their families, including their demand for access to documents about their own personal history.
Shane Lambert said that Fórsa fully supports the survivors and their families, including their demand for access to documents about their own personal history.

Fórsa has given a guarded welcome to a Government announcement that the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes will be published in January. But the union says a way must be found to give survivors and their families full access to their own personal records.

 

The records, collected during the Commission’s five-year investigation, are currently sealed for 30 years. In late October, this was underpinned by a Dáil vote on legislation to transfer the Commission’s 60,000 records to Tusla, the child and family agency.

 

However, the Government subsequently said State agencies would engage with the Data Protection Commissioner on the matter. Earlier this month, children’s minister Roderic O’Gorman said the Government would provide “the full allowable GDPR access,” but admitted that this would not fully resolve the question.

 

Fórsa says the New Year must herald a new start for the survivors, who should be granted a long-overdue right to access their own data and testimonies. Union official Shane Lambert said the October Dáil debate had been a huge blow to survivors.

 

“This is going to be a difficult Christmas for families across Ireland, but none more than those of the survivors who deserve dignity and respect. Fórsa fully supports the survivors and their families, including their demand for access to documents about their own personal history. These should not be kept from them for another three decades – a situation that means many will never know their full and true life stories.

 

“This is not a historical issue, and the hurt and anguish for all those affected remains real. The New Year is a time for new beginnings, and 2021 should see the removal of all barriers and obstacles to survivors and their families discovering their past. This would help them find closure, and it would help our society to meet its responsibilities and move on as a country from this dark chapter,” he said.

 

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation was established in early 2015 to investigate a range of things including arrangements for the entry of single women into the homes, the living conditions they experienced, and mortality amongst mothers and children residing in the institutions.

 

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