THE SUBMISSION DATE for the final report by the Commission of Investigation into mother and baby homes has been extended until June this year. 

The commission requested the extension to submitting the final report, which was granted by Zappone and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. 

A new submission date of 26 June 2020 has been agreed. The previous due date was this month. 

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone has received a sixth interim report from the commission which is said to raise “complex issues” related to the completion of the commission’s work. 

This interim report will be published “as soon as practicable, subject to further consultation with the Commission,” the minister confirmed in a statement. 

The commission must transfer its records to Zappone and deal with third-party legal costs before submitting its final report.  

Minister Zappone said she is aware many former residents and their families are “anxiously awaiting” the outcome of the investigation. 

“We can now confidently say that we are nearing the conclusion of this critically important and comprehensive investigative process,” she said in a statement.

Zappone added that the government’s priority in “agreeing to a short extension” is to avoid any risk to the outcome of the investigation.  

The commission’s fifth interim report outlined that the bodies of more than 950 children from Dublin institutions were sent to medical schools over an almost 60-year period. 

It investigation the schools’ use of the bodies of children who died in the homes, and in particular how the bodies of those children were buried afterwards.