The Minister for the Diaspora and International Development, Ciaran Cannon, has welcomed the news that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has received the report of the expert technical group dealing with the site of the former Mother and Baby Home, Tuam.
Minister Cannon said that this was a highly sensitive issue for the survivors and it was Minister Zappone's intention to publish the report after it had been brought to Government.
"The Government will also consult with stakeholders before making any decisions. I understand that the report explores a number of possible options for managing the Tuam site and appropriately responding to the discovery of interred human remains by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes," he said.
"The report examines these options in the context of internationally accepted best practise in such cases and the report will help to inform the decisions which must now be made in respect of the site. The expert technical group is to be commended for their work on such a complex, sensitive, and harrowing issue.
"There are no superlatives that adequately describe the courage and the humanity of the survivors. No mother should have suffered what these mothers suffered and no child should have been disregarded as these children were disregarded. We will ensure that whatever decisions are taken in consensus with the stakeholders will befit the dignity of the children interred within the precincts of this former institution.
"While their lives may have been brief, we will ensure that their memory will be lasting," Minister Cannon added. "The events at the mother and baby home in Tuam represent a dark corner of recent Irish history. We have sought to shine a light into that corner so that we may come to full terms with the past and give the survivors some sense of healing. As an elected representative for Galway East, I will offer every support in the implementation of whatever decisions are taken."
