Mother and Baby Homes report to reveal up to 9,000 children died in the institutions
A The On In Dáil To And Baby Mother Will Survivors Apology Wednesday Homes State The Taoiseach Of Make
The Taoiseach will make a State apology to survivors of Mother and Baby Homes in the Dáil on Wednesday.
Micheál Martin will make the apology after the report on the homes is published on Tuesday following a Cabinet meeting.
A Government spokesperson confirmed that the Taoiseach will make the apology and that he and Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman will brief survivors on the contents of the report on Tuesday.
The report is set to reveal that up to 9,000 children died in the homes from the 1930s on, with one child in seven not surviving the institutions.
It will include 1,000 pages of survivor testimony and will run to 3,000 pages. The Commission has worked on the report for five years.
It is also understood that the Government will announce an interdepartmental group to explore a restorative justice programme, as well as a bill to protect the sites of the homes from redevelopment.
This could have an impact on the Bessborough site in Cork, where a proposal to build nearly 250 apartments has attracted anger.
Part of the 3.7-acre site earmarked for the proposed Gateway View development includes a portion of land identified as ‘Childrens’ Burial Ground’ on a 1949/1950 OSI map.
The leaking of details of the report to the Sunday Independent has been criticised by survivors.
Mr O'Gorman has written to groups of survivors on the issue, it is understood.
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said that it was "unacceptable" that a Sunday newspaper would see or hear details of the report before survivors.
She said that the process had been "difficult" for survivors and their families.