IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, April 13, 2017

The language and scope of the Mother and Baby Home Commission is questionable, says Conall Ó Fátharta

WE WAITED seven months for the Government to publish the second interim report of the Commission to Inquire into Mother and Baby Homes. It did not make for encouraging reading.

Running to 16 pages, the report has three main sections — on redress, its terms of reference, and on the issue of the false registration of births.

However, on the issue of the real elephant in the room — illegal adoptions — it was remarkably, and worryingly, lukewarm. In fact, the section is not even titled “illegal adoptions”. It is given the more euphemistic title — one favoured by government departments — “false registration of birth”.

While the commission notes that illegal adoptions cover a “wide variety of situations including actions taken (or not taken)…