Minister’s duty to undo Church sins

THE illegal adoptions and personal traumas revealed in the RTÉ Investigates programme on Wednesday demonstrated once again the symbiotic link between Church and State in this country, up to the 1980s at least.

And in highlighting that relationship, it implicitly challenged one of the key findings of the report by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission – that there was no evidence of women being forced to enter the homes by Church or State authorities.

Context is everything when it comes to understanding what really went on in Ireland after independence and RTÉ Investigates made a huge contribution in that regard.

When such an influential person as consultant gynaecologist Éamon de Valera – son of the more famous taoiseach of the same name – engaged in child adoption illegalities, it’s clear how much establishment elites regarded themselves as immune from laws that only applied to others. Children were handed here or there without any consideration that their interests, and those of their mothers, should come first.

And so it continues on our watch. People who have already suffered too much are still being denied unconditional access to their birth and adoption records.

The State’s Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Professor Conor O’Mahony, has pointed out that legislation to allow such access was first announced almost 20 years ago – and yet, nothing tangible has been delivered.

This has been a shameful dereliction of duty by successive governments.

Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman distinguished himself by the almighty mess he made of the Mother and Baby Homes Report and the recordings of witness testimonies.

Now, he can restore some of his reputation by ensuring full access to birth records for those who need that. This may be his only chance as a Minister – is it too much to hope he may turn his time there into a success?