To ensure there is no ambiguity on the position of the Tuam Home Survivors Network in relation to recent announcements by Katherine Zappone and the Government, kindly note the following:
The aims and policy of the Tuam Home Survivors Network are
- The exhumation of all human remains at the Tuam site.
- The creation of a DNA database of all survivors, family members of survivors, family members of those registered as dying in the Tuam home and family members of any persons known to be missing from the Tuam home so as to identify as many as possible of the human remains.
- That all aspects of the forensic exhumation of the Tuam mass grave be undertaken by the only legal authority both permitted and obliged to do so, the Coroners Service under the auspices of the Department of Justice.
It is beyond debate that the Minister continues to act ultra vires in this matter. That is our clear position.
The fact that Coroner for North Galway has failed in his duty to convene an Inquest or that successive Attorneys General have failed in their duty to appoint another Coroner, or the fact that the Department of Justice has failed to fulfil its role, does not mean that their powers devolve on the Minister for Children by default.
It is difficult to see what if any role the Minister for Children has in this matter. Any suggestion that she has the power to control the process of bringing closure to the Tuam story is constitutionally and legally absurd and we do not in any way support it.