Final report on Mother and Baby Homes redress lays bare fundamental flaws in government’s approach – Claire Kerrane TD

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Children, Disability, and Equality, Claire Kerrane TD, has spoken of her disappointment at the details of Sheila Nunan’s final report on Mother and Baby Homes redress.

Deputy Kerrane was responding to today’s publication of government negotiator Sheila Nunan’s final report, which sets out conclusions from talks with seven Catholic bodies and the Church of Ireland.

Teachta Kerrane said:

“These negotiations began ten years ago.

“That ten years of negotiations have resulted in only one of the bodies offering a cash contribution is an indictment of the very approach adopted by the government – an approach that has consistently prioritised religious orders over survivors.

“It is beyond belief that the government has continued to engage and negotiate with religious orders and ask them to pay into the fund rather than compel them to do so.

“The fact is no compensation or redress scheme could ever compensate people for the human rights abuses they endured, but the refusal by these organisations to contribute adds insult to injury.

“The existing scheme is already shamefully minimal and exclusionary – that these religious orders would fail to even contribute to this is completely unacceptable and would not be accepted from any other organisation.

“The government’s commitment to merely review this report does little to inspire confidence that they will ever understand, much less address, the needs of survivors.”