{"id":1387,"date":"2021-01-13T15:05:13","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T15:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/"},"modified":"2021-01-13T15:05:13","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T15:05:13","slug":"apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Apology is necessary, but not enough"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>&#8211; Government will be judged by its actions, not words.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Jennifer Whitmore TD, Social Democrats\u00a0spokesperson for\u00a0Children, has said that the apology from the Taoiseach today, while necessary, is not enough and that the Government will be judged by its actions, not words.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Whitmore commented:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe commission\u2019s report \u2013 and the Government\u2019s response to it \u2013 fails to acknowledge that the fundamental responsibility for protecting its citizens lies with the State. It is not acceptable to suggest that the brutal regime described in the report is something we did to ourselves as a society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor decades, the State and church operated hand in glove to implement a policy of shame, blame and misogyny that facilitated and oversaw the horrific treatment of women and children. It is simply not good enough to point the finger at families and wider society and say that they failed the survivors and victims of Mother and Baby Homes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the Government\u2019s first reaction to the commission\u2019s report is to suggest we were all complicit in the appalling treatment of these women and children, then we have learned nothing at all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s apology must be followed up with swift action that addresses the needs of survivors. Restorative justice can only be truly achieved when outstanding issues such as access to personal data and financial redress are expedited in a manner that is not unwieldly. Survivors should not be retraumatised by having further bureaucratic or legislative barriers placed in front of them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIreland has a poor track record when it comes to dealing with victims of institutional abuse. This Government must not repeat the mistakes of the past in helping the survivors of Mother and Baby Homes achieve closure on this traumatic chapter of their lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis report only represents a step in the journey that these women and their families are taking. We need to listen to what survivors are saying and be led by their needs and voices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>January 13, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8211; Government will be judged by its actions, not words. Jennifer Whitmore TD, Social Democrats\u00a0spokesperson for\u00a0Children, has said that the apology from the Taoiseach today, while necessary, is not enough and that the Government will be judged by its actions, not words. Deputy Whitmore commented: \u201cThe commission\u2019s report \u2013 and the Government\u2019s response to it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Apology is necessary, but not enough - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Apology is necessary, but not enough - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8211; Government will be judged by its actions, not words. Jennifer Whitmore TD, Social Democrats\u00a0spokesperson for\u00a0Children, has said that the apology from the Taoiseach today, while necessary, is not enough and that the Government will be judged by its actions, not words. Deputy Whitmore commented: \u201cThe commission\u2019s report \u2013 and the Government\u2019s response to it [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-13T15:05:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4449-44-scaled-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\"},\"headline\":\"Apology is necessary, but not enough\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-13T15:05:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/\"},\"wordCount\":335,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4449-44-scaled-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Jennifer Whitmore\",\"Press Release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/\",\"name\":\"Apology is necessary, but not enough - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4449-44-scaled-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-13T15:05:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4449-44-scaled-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4449-44-scaled-1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1280},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Apology is necessary, but not enough\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\",\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/zoo-admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Apology is necessary, but not enough - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Apology is necessary, but not enough - Social Democrats","og_description":"&#8211; Government will be judged by its actions, not words. Jennifer Whitmore TD, Social Democrats\u00a0spokesperson for\u00a0Children, has said that the apology from the Taoiseach today, while necessary, is not enough and that the Government will be judged by its actions, not words. Deputy Whitmore commented: \u201cThe commission\u2019s report \u2013 and the Government\u2019s response to it [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2021-01-13T15:05:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4449-44-scaled-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ZOO Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ZOO Admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/"},"author":{"name":"ZOO Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960"},"headline":"Apology is necessary, but not enough","datePublished":"2021-01-13T15:05:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/"},"wordCount":335,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4449-44-scaled-1.jpg","articleSection":["Jennifer Whitmore","Press Release"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/","name":"Apology is necessary, but not enough - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4449-44-scaled-1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-01-13T15:05:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4449-44-scaled-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4449-44-scaled-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/apology-is-necessary-but-not-enough\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Apology is necessary, but not enough"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960","name":"ZOO Admin","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/zoo-admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}