Thread by @PhelanVicky

#motherandbabyhomesreport A V LONG thread
I have not commented on the publication of the Commission of Investigation’s Final Report into Mother and Baby Homes (M&BH) until now because I wanted to read through as much of the 3,000 page report as I possibly could before commenting

Taoiseach @MichealMartinTD apologised on behalf of the State to former residents of M&BH earlier today. In his apology, he said that “the report gives survivors what they have been denied for so long: their voice, their individuality, their right to be acknowledged”

I disagree…

Scant regard was given to survivors when details of the report were leaked earlier this week.

We have form with leaks in this country!

While I understand that leaks are important in journalism, I do NOT agree with this when it comes to victims of state abuse or state failures

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the final report runs to over 3,000 pages long. Survivors were sent a link which they were expected to download to read or print!

Did anyone involved in drawing up this report stop for one second and think about the survivors’ needs?

Many survivors of M&BH experienced literacy difficulties because they were either denied an education or left school early with limited literacy skills.

Additional supports SHOULD have been put in place to enable ALL survivors to access the report.

This failure to do so compounds the hurt felt by survivors. @Catherinegalway, a TD whom I greatly admire, put it so well in her statement today in the Dáil when she said that she struggled to find the words to articulate how she felt after reading the report but that…

…she owed it to survivors to find the words to articulate her views on the report.

No, you don’t Catherine. It is the State who owes it to the M&BH survivors to:

- provide survivors with a Report that they can access

This would go some way towards giving survivors a voice and a right to be acknowledged.

Today’s State Apology, much like the State Apology to the women and families affected by the #CervicalCheckDebacle is meaningless if action is not taken…

The State owes it to the survivors who shared their stories & relived the abuse and trauma inflicted upon them & to the survivors who are suffering in silence at home with the publication of this Report to:

- provide a redress scheme that meets the needs of those affected

- exhume the bodies of the children at the Tuam site, allow for DNA testing of remains and give these poor children a proper burial

- pursue the Church and religious orders associated with M&BH to apologise to survivors and financially contribute to a redress scheme

And, finally, create an Irish Honours List and bestow upon Catherine Corless an award that she so richly deserves for her tireless campaigning on behalf of M&BH survivors