How State should now respond to the scandal

THE recommendations outlined by the Commission of Investigation highlight a number of key points for the Government to act upon.

ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Adopted people should have a right to their birth certificates and associated birth information. Medical information and adoption records compiled at the time of the adoption should also be available.

REDRESS

Services such as counselling and enhanced medical cards ‘should be made available to those former residents who need them’. And while the commission acknowledges that any decision on financial redress is a matter for government, it says the State has an ‘obligation not to discriminate’ between people who received compensation in the past for institutional abuse.

MEMORIAL

The commission said a number of initiatives can be included under this heading, but ultimately ‘it is a matter for the former residents as to what type of memorial they would like to see’.

FUNDING FOR CHILDREN

The commission said the Government could consider earmarking a specific fund for current disadvantaged children (for example, children in Direct Provision, or children with special needs) and ‘naming it in honour of, say, the children who died in Tuam’.

SCHOLARSHIPS

A number of scholarships should be created for further research in memory of all the children who died, the commission said.

TAX BENEFITS

A small number of people told the commission that they inherited farms from their foster parents but that they had to pay taxes for which birth children and adopted children were not liable. The commission stated that an ex gratia payment could be made to compensate for this.

ACCESS TO ARCHIVES

The commission has called for the availability of archives for the public, such as institutional records and Department of Health records for the purpose of further historical research or examination.