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Martin said it was a "dark chapter in our past" and he wants "openness, honesty and transparency" around what happened. RollingNews.ie

Taoiseach says he's determined to have Mother and Baby Homes report published 'as quickly as possible'

Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman is due to receive the report tomorrow.

TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said there is a determination in government to have the report of the Commission into Mother and Baby Homes published “as quickly as possible”.

Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman is due to receive the report, which runs to about 4,000 pages in length, on Friday.

Speaking to reporters in Government Buildings today, the Taoiseach said the government wants the report “published as quickly as we possibly can”.

Once the report is given to the minister, it will also have to go to the Attorney General for legal reasons.

“I can’t put an exact timeline on it, but the sooner the better as far as I’m concerned,” said Martin.

Coalition TDs have said that the government was taken aback by the backlash to last week’s Mother and Baby Homes Bill. Minister Michael McGrath said yesterday that it was never the intention for the bill to cause “such anxiety and anger”. 

The Taoiseach said he agreed that survivors’ groups should have been met with before the bill was published.

However, he said there was never an attempt to bury information.

“We have no agenda to bury anything, why would we?” he asked.

Martin said it was a “dark chapter in our past” and he wants “openness, honesty and transparency” around what happened.

“Our first concern is the survivors. I think everyone needs to look at last weekend, including the government, because there was a lot written actually that doesn’t stand up and didn’t stand up if I am honest about it,” he said.

Speaking today, the Taoiseach said that if the legislation at the centre of last week’s controversy had not been passed, it would have subsequently emerged that the database would have been destroyed.

The Taoiseach said that he doesn’t want information relating to commissions of investigations surrounding abuse that are held in the Department of An Taoiseach sealed off.

He wants to see a centre established where archives from commissions can be held, which can be accessed by survivors and academics.

It is envisaged that records relating to mother-and-baby homes, Magdalene laundries and industrial schools will be held in this archive. However, the Taoiseach said it shouldn’t just be an archive, but should “tell a story” about Ireland’s dark past.

The issue around tracing legislation has surfaced previously, said the Taoiseach highlighting that last year, there were similar issues with adoption legislation.

The then Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone received legal advice that there must be some protection of birth parents’ constitutional right to privacy reflected in adoption legislation.

The minister also said at the time that no consensus had been reached on the issue of the release of birth information despite significant efforts being made.

Martin said that legislation had to be pulled back because of controversy around challenges and disputes, and the level and degree of access to records.

“Our objective is to bring that legislation back to the Oireachtas. Obviously the minister is working on it in terms of that very issue in terms of access to records… in terms of unfettered access,” he said.

The government’s dispositions is towards giving access but “one cannot ignore the privacy argument either”, said Martin.

The future tracing legislation will have to include the full consultation with all the groups representing survivors, he said.

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    Mute Carlin Ite
    Favourite Carlin Ite
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    Oct 29th 2020, 3:23 PM

    They can keep their report. We always get quangos and reports. We want the records to be available for family members.

    289
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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Oct 29th 2020, 5:40 PM

    @Carlin Ite: absolute plonker. Release the files.

    64
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    Mute Paul Tennant
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    Oct 29th 2020, 3:25 PM

    How about undoing the damage done and unsealing the files!

    235
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    Mute Derek Poutch
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    Oct 29th 2020, 4:54 PM

    @Paul Tennant: How about tomorrow?

    58
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    Mute Mairtin Antaine O Conaill
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    Oct 30th 2020, 2:41 PM

    @Paul Tennant: no files have been sealed though!!! They’ve been handed to Tusla, so that people can be identified. The whole “sealed” conspiracy was a lie trotted out by the opposition.

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    Mute John
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    Oct 29th 2020, 3:46 PM

    Release the records – a report isn’t good enough.

    164
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    Mute Mairtin Antaine O Conaill
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    Oct 30th 2020, 2:41 PM

    @John: the records haven’t been sealed. They’ve been given to Tulsa.

    1
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    Mute Paul Somers
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    Oct 29th 2020, 3:35 PM

    This is a Government that is planking it.. they are hoping by publishing this report the injustices will go away .. they dont see or feel the hurt of the people who were and are still Hurting.

    173
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    Mute John Nolan
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    Oct 29th 2020, 3:30 PM

    Unseal the unreal and be a proper Taoiseach for modern Ireland

    144
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    Mute Mairtin Antaine O Conaill
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    Oct 30th 2020, 2:42 PM

    @John Nolan: you can’t unseal something that hasn’t been sealed.

    1
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    Mute Cookie
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    Oct 29th 2020, 3:40 PM

    I think Stephen Donnelly now needs to be held accountable for his beytrayal of the Cervical Cancer group.

    142
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    Mute Rosa Lopez
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    Oct 29th 2020, 4:03 PM

    In 30 years, when responsibles are all dead or in their 80s, it can be called ‘dark past’, but surely now with responsible still alive, he can’t say there was abuse against women and children in an institution and not have it investigated and prosecuted. Or can he? Do these crimes perished?
    No one wants to think a goverment in this time and age has any agenda to bury information, but that’s exactly how it sounds.

    104
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    Mute Seanboy
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    Oct 29th 2020, 6:55 PM

    @Rosa Lopez: I think I read somewhere the report is on mother and baby homes from 1922 to 1998. I can’t believe there was some of those places still operating in 1998 it makes me sick.

    33
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    Mute Rosa Lopez
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    Oct 29th 2020, 8:12 PM

    @Seanboy: unreal, and shocking the Taoiseach referred to it as a “dark chapter in our past’ making it sound like it happens in the middle ages when he was already a TD in 1989.

    23
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    Mute Rosa Lopez
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    Oct 29th 2020, 8:13 PM

    @Rosa Lopez: *happened.

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    Mute Anna Kirby
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    Oct 30th 2020, 1:02 AM

    @Seanboy: still operating in 1998 and still been hidden today…unbelievable

    4
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    Mute Derek Moean
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    Oct 29th 2020, 4:08 PM

    Its the Record’s the people want not some make up Report….Remember those who have voted to steal in the next election…..

    71
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    Mute Mairtin Antaine O Conaill
    Favourite Mairtin Antaine O Conaill
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    Oct 30th 2020, 2:43 PM

    @Derek Moean: no one voted to seal records. No records have been sealed. That’s a lie made up by the opposition.

    1
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    Mute Ronaldo Blanc
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    Oct 29th 2020, 4:07 PM

    Weasel.

    86
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    Mute Caroline Hamilton
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    Oct 29th 2020, 4:38 PM

    The records need to be released immediately.Should never have happened.These poor women,have they not been through enough already?

    61
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    Mute Jonnie Marre
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    Oct 29th 2020, 3:33 PM

    We want the records please! Useless shower

    134
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    Mute Shakka1244
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    Oct 29th 2020, 4:58 PM

    The people and families that were so horribly wronged should be 100% at the forefront of any decision made around access to the files.
    I don’t think that’s the case here – it would appear that the only thing at the forefront of FF & FG’s decision to bury these files is protecting the legacy of their parties.

    44
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    Mute John Hartigan
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    Oct 29th 2020, 4:31 PM

    What a load of bull he is probably Dreaming up some other scheme to bury them

    60
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    Mute Albert Brennerman
    Favourite Albert Brennerman
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    Oct 29th 2020, 4:04 PM

    Could he read the Dail debate and all that was said by the FF/FG/GP that he is now unsaying. Though they could amend law to stop this impending Mission Impossible scenario whereby records would self destruct, though no such legal requirement existed for a date of 30th Oct. The DPC was poo poo’d on GDPR.
    So I am very concerned
    Has he been body snatched by the opposition or have an evil twin that’s a social democrat.

    35
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    Mute Virus-free Turkey
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    Oct 29th 2020, 7:58 PM

    Speaking of the Attorney General, what happened with that meeting between Woulfe and that guy with the white suit n beer gut?

    15
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    Mute Liam O Connor
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    Oct 29th 2020, 7:35 PM

    Maybe if Mehole wasn’t so preoccupied with holding the toilet paper for eamonn Ryan and concentrated on helping the families involved in this scandal we might respect him.

    12
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    Mute Vinny Clare
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    Oct 29th 2020, 9:57 PM

    He said if the bill wasn’t passed the data base was to be destroyed.

    7
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    Mute Jack Ryan
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    Oct 29th 2020, 9:42 PM

    Records are not being ‘sealed’. This is an erroneous belief based a flawed interpretation of the data protection act of 2018. Records will be, and have always been going to be available to the contributors. Government have confirmed this. Smoke without fire. Another example of the risks of social media setting our news cycle.

    6
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    Mute Mairtin Antaine O Conaill
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    Oct 30th 2020, 2:45 PM

    @Jack Ryan: stop it jack!!!! These people don’t care about the truth.

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    Mute Michael Power
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    Oct 29th 2020, 7:20 PM
    2
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    Mute Jack Ryan
    Favourite Jack Ryan
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    Oct 29th 2020, 9:42 PM

    Records are not being ‘sealed’. This is an erroneous belief based a flawed interpretation of the data protection act of 2018. Records will be, and have always been going to be available to the contributors. Government have confirmed this. Smoke without fire. Another example of the risks of social media setting our news cycle.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jack Ryan
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    Oct 29th 2020, 9:43 PM

    Records are not being ‘sealed’. This is an erroneous belief based a flawed interpretation of the data protection act of 2018. Records will be, and have always been going to be available to the contributors. Government have confirmed this. Smoke without fire. Another example of the risks of social media setting our news cycle

    2
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    Mute Simon Fusco
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    Oct 30th 2020, 6:01 AM

    Just nothing that might incriminate them

    2
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