I’ll do all I can to help survivors of mother and baby homes: O’neill
Deputy First Minister in justice vow as Irish PM says sorry for ‘profound wrong’ carried out in institutions
DEPUTY First Minister Michelle O’neill has vowed to do “whatever is required” to secure justice for survivors of mother and baby homes.
The Stormont Executive is expected to receive a report around institutions run north of the border in the coming weeks.
Ms O’neill said she is determined to do “whatever is required to make sure that these women are no longer denied access to justice”.
First Minister Arlene Foster said she looks forward to seeing the report and hearing recommendations on the way forward.
The pair will meet with Irish children’s minister Roderic O’gorman next week to consider “any issues which have a cross-border dimension”.
Earlier in Dublin, Taoiseach Micheal Martin apologised to the survivors of the homes saying they had been failed by the state.
He was speaking after a report by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes found “appalling” levels of death.
In Northern Ireland, former assistant chief constable Judith Gillespie chairs an inter-departmental working group on mother and baby homes, Magdalen Laundries and historical clerical abuse.
Academics from Queen’s University in Belfast and Ulster University have been examining the operation of institutions between 1922 and 1999.
Ms O’neill told Stormont’s Executive Committee yesterday that the report is complete and a paper is expected to be brought to ministers “shortly” for consideration.
She said, subject to the Executive’s approval, it will be published before the end of January.
She said she looked forward to receiving the report and turning around a response “very, very quickly” to provide a “next step” for victims and survivors.
“I think what happened in the south yesterday was appalling, that the report was leaked to the public before the victims and survivors had sight of it, I think that was a further slap in the face. We need to make sure that that doesn’t happen again here,” she said.
Mrs Foster paid tribute to the work of Ms Gillespie, saying she has made “great progress”.
Earlier, the Taoiseach apologised for the “profound generational wrong” on the survivors of homes for unmarried mothers and their children.
Micheal Martin said the mothers and children were failed by the State.
He said: “I apologise for the shame and stigma which they were subjected to and which, for some, remains a burden to this day. In apologising, I want to emphasise that each of you were in an institution because of the wrongs of others.
“Each of you is blameless, each of you did nothing wrong and has nothing to be ashamed of.
“Each of you deserved much better.”
Mr Martin said it is the duty of a republic to be willing to hold itself to account.
Mr O’gorman said it is important that a “clear and unambiguous” apology is made by Mr Martin on behalf of the State to say “sorry for what happened to the women who entered these homes, to the children who were born within these homes”.
However, survivors had called for Mr Martin to delay the apology to allow them time to read the extensive report in full.
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‘The report being leaked to the public was a further slap in the teeth for victims and survivors’