Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2026
795. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department will produce the index to the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Inquiry archive and make it publicly available; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45448/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe extensive records sources and file lists used by the Commission to inform its work are published in Part 5: Archives of The Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.
The Commission was not in possession of original records and the records listed in Part 5: Archives of the final report are copies of records provided to the Commission. Therefore, original records remain in the possession of the relevant statutory body and appropriate access is regulated in accordance with relevant statute.
As an archive deposited with the Minister under section 43(2) of the 2004 Act, its records are subject to a general principle of confidentiality. Section 11(1) of the 2004 Act specifies that a Commission shall conduct its investigation in private unless certain conditions for hearing evidence in public are met. Section 11(3) of the 2004 Act prohibits any person (including the Minister) from disclosing or publishing any evidence given or the contents of any document produced by a witness while giving evidence in private, with very limited exceptions.
The Commission dissolved as a legal entity on 28 February 2021. The Department is the custodian of Commission’s records until such time as they are transferred to the National Archives in accordance with the provisions of section 8 of the 1986 Act. The Department’s obligation is to preserve the archive pending its transfer to the National Archives. The Department is also required to respond to access requests under the GDPR where such records contain personal data and Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation insofar as FOI legislation applies to the records.
The National Centre for Research and Remembrance, which will be located in Seán MacDermott Street, Dublin 1, will stand as a site of conscience to honour equally all those who spent time in Industrial Schools, Magdalen Laundries, Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions, Reformatories, and related institutions, and all those who have lived experience of Ireland’s historical adoption and boarded out systems.
The National Centre campus will house a research centre and repository of records related to institutional trauma in the 20th century, which will form part of the National Archives. Most of the records to be contained in the National Centre will transfer to the National Archives from a government department or State body who created, received or held the records in the course of their own business functions. A process has commenced across departments to prepare these records for transfer to the National Centre under the provisions of the National Archives Act 1986.
A Steering Group, comprising representatives from a number of different Departments and agencies, has been established to lead the development of the National Centre. A Legal and Legislative sub-group of this main Steering Group was also established to consider and develop policy responses and legislative proposals in relation to the management of, and access to, the records which will form part of the repository.
As an interim measure, while the above process is being progressed, work is underway to develop an online resource to provide survivors and affected people with up-to-date information in relation to what records exist, where they are currently located, and how to access them. It is expected that the resource will be available on the National Centre website []/www.gov.ie/nationalcentre.later this year.
