DUBLIN: Archbishop Eamon Martin says the religious congregations will not be blamed wholly in the name of Mother and Baby Homes incident. The archbishop apologized for the church’s role in the incident, saying it would not scapegoat the religious congregations.
He said the church should not take full responsibility for what happened at the Mother and Baby Homes as pointed out by the Commission of Investigation in its report. The archbishop also said that those who read the commission report and wanted to scapegoat the religious congregations would be disappointed.
The archbishop said the government, local councils and county councils have their own responsibilities, because they were appointed by the country, local authorities and county councils. “They were expected to intervene when the rest of society had banished these mothers and their unborn children and infants,” Martin said.
“They too were Irish women who answered a call to serve and they found themselves on the front line of this. There is clear evidence that the day to day running of the institutions which some of the sisters were involved in was very harsh,” he said. They were subject to State’s monitoring, inspection and supervision and “they too were basically hidden from society”.
The archbishop also indicated that the church was prepared to pay compensation commensurate with the commission’s findings. “I think we can expect that all the people who were involved in this should be demonstrating the sincerity of the apologies. I think that we can show that our apologies are sincere by being willing to contribute in any way that we can and I believe that many of the religious sisters have already said they are open to it,” he said.
“We’re ashamed to realise and to think of the number of vulnerable women and their unborn children and their infants who were stigmatised and shamed and excluded from their homes and families and ostracised really from their parishes and communities – essentially, they were banished by society and their rights ignored,” archbishop said.
Country must “bear primary responsibility” for the incident – President
President Michael D Higgins said the country should take primary responsibility for the Mother and Baby Home incident.
“It is the State that is charged with safeguarding the welfare of its most vulnerable citizens, and it is the State that must bear primary responsibility for failing to provide appropriate supports for these tens of thousands of young women and their children,” Mr. Higgins said.