Galway Bay fm newsroom:
The Minister for Children has promised to explore legislation allowing survivors of mother and baby homes and their families, to access the archive compiled by the Commission of Investigation into the homes.
The archive, which feature many interviews and accounts from survivors of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, will be transferred to the Department of Children following the roll up of the commission at the end of this month should a current bill under consideration pass the Seanad and Dail.
The bill, which is due to be approved by the Dáil this week, will ensure to complete transfer of the archive without the need for any redaction or loss of contents due to personal data protection laws.
However, the new legislation would also stop them being seen by survivors, their family members or independent researchers for the next thirty years until they would be unsealed and transferred to the national archive.
Survivor groups, historians and local politicians have called on the Minister for Children to bring forward amendments or further legislation on access as a matter of urgency:
Addressing Minister Roderick O'Gorman in the Seanad today, Fine Gael Galway Senator Aisling Dolan says people have a right to the records of their own past:
In response to Senator Dolan, the Children's Minister promised to examine the issue once the current legislation is passed:
