The Commission of Investigation's Third Interim report states that some of the Catholic orders of nuns which ran or staffed mother and baby institutions have said very little archival material was available, while others have provided extensive documentation.
It also says that records of some of the statutory health authorities are proving difficult to find.
The revelations come as the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone, announced she will establish a Collaborative Forum to support former residents to gain access to records documenting their own, their mothers' and their siblings' times in the homes.
In a statement accompanying the report, Ms Zappone described the forum as a progressive response to the theme of "nothing about us without us" which has emerged from two facilitated consultations she participated in last summer along with survivors and their families. One took place in Dublin and the other in Cork.
After the gathering in the capital late last June, the minister said many of those she met told her the most important thing for survivors was getting all their personal information.
Most of the 120 survivor-participants willing to comment explained to the Irish Times that this meant accessing the records of their time in the institutions, along with their mothers' and siblings'. They also prioritised getting their own medical records.
Among the other measures they demanded were redress, which the Government has said it cannot consider granting until the Commission has furnished its final report.
They called for counselling, more information about the ongoing Commission of Investigation and the recording of a "collective history" of their experiences.
Further details about what an official source called the "survivor-focused" forum and other information concerning today's announcements are available in a Frequently Asked Questions document published this evening by Ms Zappone's department.
Ms Zappone says that, in today's Interim Report, the three-person Commission, chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy, sets out the scale of the task involved in collating and analysing the vast range of documentary material related to its terms of reference.
Referring to legally enforceable discovery orders relating to the records of Catholic religious congregations which ran most of the homes, the Commission states that "some have very little material available while others have provided extensive material."
It goes on to state that the relevant state authorities - Government Departments, local authorities and the HSE - have also been issued with discovery orders.
"Extensive material has been provided but this process is not yet complete," it says.
Other main points
Among the challenges the Commission cites in its probe of 14 mother and baby homes and a representative sample of four county homes are:
- Their investigation requires the collection and analysis of information about entry and exit pathways for the mothers and children involved; living conditions, mortality rates, post-mortem practices and vaccine trials in the institutions; and practices in relation to placement for fostering and adoption.
- Some of these issues have proved to be very time-consuming."..….in particular, the Commission has spent considerable time trying to establish the burial practices in the mother and baby home in Tuam (Co Galway)."
- Most of the records of admission, residence and discharge of the large mother and baby homes are in paper form and are held by the Child and Family Agency [Tusla]. In order to make detailed analysis possible, the Commission decided to electronically scan them. "This process is taking considerable time."
- It has also either electronically scanned or photocopied records of institutions whose records are not held by the Child and Family Agency.
- By last September, it had electronically scanned or photocopied the records from 11 of the 14 named mother and baby homes.
- "The records for another institution are being scanned at present. There is one institution for which records are probably not available and one whose records may be available but are very difficult to extract from a larger collection of records.
- "The scanned and photocopied records are being analysed. This analysis will not be completed until mid-2018.
- "The records of the four county homes are held either by the HSE, the National Archives or local archives. These are all being examined and analysed manually.
- "Unmarried mothers and children were a relatively small minority of the residents of county homes. County homes also housed, among others, homeless married parents with their children as well as children of married parents who were there without their parents. It is a complex task to establish which residents are within the remit of the Commission.
- "The Commission has also collected a wide variety of documentary material from other archives, in particular, the National Archives, local authority archives and diocesan archives. Relevant material has also been collected from local and national newspapers and other media outlets.
- "…. there are …. significant gaps" in the material available on institutions "and further searches have to be made to try to fill these gaps."
- "For example, the records of some of the various health authorities are proving difficult to find. It is not clear if they have been lost or destroyed or simply that no one knows where they are. This may be due to the changes in structures over the years - from local authorities/Board of Guardians/Boards of Public Assistance to Health Boards and then to the HSE and, in some cases, to the Child and Family Agency. The Commission is continuing its efforts to find this material.
- "While there are detailed death records available, there are significant gaps in the information available about the burials of babies who died in a number of the institutions under investigation. The Commission is continuing to make inquiries about burials and burial records but it appears that this is an area in which it will be difficult to establish the facts.
- "The Commission has heard evidence from 140 individuals about conditions in the institutions. These include former residents, workers and representatives of the authorities who ran the institutions. This process is not yet complete and, particularly in respect of the authorities who ran the institutions, cannot be completed until all the documentary evidence has been analysed."
- The Commission says that for these and other reasons outlined, it "recognises that it will not be able to conclude the investigation and issue its reports within the current timeframe and requests an extension of one year to allow it to do so".
- It predicts that today's extension will not lead it to exceed the €21.5 million cost-ceiling imposed by the then-government when the probe was established almost three years. The limit relates to the Commission's salaries, fees and other administrative costs but excludes third party costs.
