21/02/2018 - We recognise that the Commission is restricted by the Commission of Investigaton Act 2004 and by the Terms of Reference set by the Oireachtas.

We are grateful that the Commission working  within those restraints interpreted its powers in a manner which led it to carry out a search of the Tuam site, which confirmed it as a mass grave.

This provided confirmation of what survivors of Tuam already knew, that the children of Tuam whose burials are not recorded, where placed in a former waste pit or tank.

We  note that the Department of Health and the HSE  CEO were made aware of documentation coming into the hands of the HSE in 2011 which detailed child-trafficking and other forms of criminality by the Bon Secours Order in respect of the children of the Tuam Home.

We note that in convening the Inter-departmental Committee of 2014, the Secretary-General of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, excluded both the HSE and TUSLA from membership of that Committee.

We note that the report of the Committee published in July 2014 contained nothing that was not already in the public domain and deliberately excluded much which should have informed its Report.

We note that that the Tuam burial site is under the jurisdiction of the local Coroner and and that he has to date completely failed in his duty to convene an Inquest.

We note also that in these circumstances the failure of the Attorney General to appoint a Coroner to convene an Inquest into the deaths of the Tuam children, represents a shocking failure of that office.

We note that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has since the announcement of the Tuam site acted  ultra vires in respect of that site.

We ask the Commission to note that the unequivocal position of the Tuam Survivors  as set out in our Statement of January 4th 2018.

We ask the Commission to note that the Tuam survivors do not accept that Government and the agencies with statutory responsility have acted in good faith in respect of the circumstances of the Tuam site.