Survivors David Kinsella, Peter Mulryan and James Sugrue at today's protest outside Leinster House Image: Órla Ryan Survivors David Kinsella, Peter Mulryan and James Sugrue at today's protest outside Leinster House Image: Órla Ryan Updated 5 hours ago
The UN Human Rights Committee and the Oireachtas Children’s Committee have also both called for this waiver to be scrapped, saying that survivors should be able to take legal action if they see fit. “We have all experienced pain and suffering, violations of human rights, as a result of the State’s malpractice in the administration and supervision of the numerous State-run institutions.”Sugrue noted the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes found that “some children who were boarded out experienced some of the worst abuse”.
“We need rightful justice for survivors and to stop treating survivors as second-class citizens. Let us move on with the years or months some may have left in life. Give us an appropriate redress package that includes everyone,” he said. He said the Government is “seeking legal advice” in terms of the waiver included in the redress scheme, on foot of the UN committee’s recommendation to remove it.“We wanted to bring forward a scheme that was non-adversarial,” the minister said.
“There are people who were boarded out who, while they were boarded out, underwent incredible abuse. There are others who were well looked after by the families, and many basically became part of the family they were boarded out to. Tens of thousands of children were boarded out in Ireland across several decades, in a system overseen by the State. Some of these children have reported being neglected and physically and sexually abused.
Sugrue previously told us that it makes no sense for the Government to say the State apology to survivors includes boarded out children but then exclude them from the redress scheme.
Is this free gravy train still moving? These people will try to bleed the rest of us to death...