Institutions and Ireland: Mother and Baby Homes and Transitional Justice

This article addresses the extent to which historical abuses can be evaluated through the lens of transitional justice. Transitional justice concerns a society’s attempts to address widespread or systemic human rights violations. This article will evaluate the approach taken in Ireland in responding to abuse claims in the context of Mother and Baby Homes and, specifically, the government response to the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes in 2021. In its manner of addressing cases of institutional abuse, the Republic of Ireland risks ignoring the best practices adopted through a transitional justice paradigm, and thus missing the opportunity to demonstrate the central significance of institutional abuse to national identity, to a transformed national narrative and to the relationship of Church and State. Finally, this process of addressing the past may neglect to comprehensively acknowledge the rights held and harms experienced by victim-survivors. The Irish government’s response has so far failed to prioritize their voices and preferences as the central feature of how we view and redress historical institutional abuse.