Minister for Children Katherine
Zappone has referred in the Dáil to the 474 so-called "unclaimed infant
remains" which were transferred from mother and baby homes to medical
schools in Irish universities between 1940 and 1965.
The minister also announced that she is about to begin discussions
with advocates, historians and other experts who have studied a model of
inquiry used by countries like Chile and Argentina to try to come to
terms with a range of large-scale past abuses.
Minister Zappone said an interim report from the commission
investigating mother and baby homes will be published by the end of the
month.
During a special Dáil debate on the Tuam babies, the minister
acknowledged the calls made since Friday for an expansion of the terms
of reference to cover all institutions, agencies and individuals that
were involved with Ireland's unmarried mothers and their children.
She said she wanted to offer solidarity and a personal apology for the wrongs that were done to those affected.
Ms Zappone listed a litany of truths that Irish society and its
institutional pillars must now accept, including that, between 1940 and
1965, 474 so-called "unclaimed infant remains" were transferred from
such homes to medical schools in Ireland.
The Prime Time documentary Anatomy of a Scandal,
which was initially broadcast in 2011, revealed for the first time that
the remains of hundreds of infants were passed from mother and baby
homes and related institutions into the anatomy departments of Irish
medical colleges right up to the mid 1960s.
Turning to last Tuesday's Cabinet approval of a scoping exercise to
examine broadening the commission's remit to cover all organisations and
individuals involved with single mothers and their babies.
She said she is about to begin discussions with advocates, with
historians and other scholars specialising in the use of a set of
approaches which the UN calls "transitional justice" which enables
societies to try to come to terms with a range of large-scale past
abuses.
She cited its use in countries like Chile and Argentina while they were emerging from their repressive pasts.