Zappone: Bon Secours order has 'ethical responsibility' to provide more funding for Tuam exhumation
Minister for Children Katherine Zappone has said that the Bon Secours order has an “ethical responsibility” to provide more funding for the exhumation and reburial of the remains of babies at the Tuam Mother and Baby home.
The order has committed to contributing €2.5m towards the cost which is estimated could be between €6m and €13m. The Minister told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that she has asked the order for more money.
However, if the order does not provide more money then the balance will be met by the State, she acknowledged.
On Tuesday the Cabinet approved the publication of the general scheme of a Bill that will provide the legal basis for a phased forensic excavation, exhumation and re-interment of remains at the site.
The Certain Institutional Burials Bill will allow for forensic analysis of any recovered remains and provides for samples to be taken from the remains as well as from relatives of the deceased for the purpose of identification.
An agency will be established to manage interventions at the site. Under the Bill, the Government could also authorise similar interventions at other sites.
Following on from the work of Co Galway historian Catherine Corless, who gathered death certificates for 796 infants linked to the home, a Commission of Investigation into mother-and-baby homes found “significant quantities” of human remains on the site.
Ms Zappone denied that the implementation of the Bill had been delayed. The new law had to be robust, she said which was why she had set up a dedicated unit with the sole purpose of working on the details of the new legislation.
She said she appreciated the sense of urgency and forbearance of the families and was very sorry that it had taken this long.
There were many complexities and difficulties that had to be addressed, it had not been a case of her department dragging their feet.
There had been no opposition to the Bill, she added. “The Government took the most radical option, we made that decision not knowing the full cost.”
The Minister said she hoped the law will pass before the summer recess in 2020, no matter what date the next general election.
Once the law is passed an agency will be set up to determine what work is required which could begin by next autumn.
