Historian Catherine Corless is calling on the commission set up to investigate Mother and Baby Homes to publish its report when it is completed.
The commission needs to explain why it plans to “file away” and “hide away” its findings, she told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
The commission, chaired by retired Circuit Court Judge Yvonne Murphy, was set up in February 2015 after Ms Corless, published research that revealed death certificates for 796 children at the Tuam mother-and-baby home with no indication of their burial places.
It has been tasked with investigating 14 mother-and-baby homes, as well as four so-called “County Homes” which operated across the State at different times between 1922 and 1998.
However, Ms Corless believes survivors want their stories to be heard and a number of them will be participating in an oral history project at NUI Galway.
The project will also involve workshops and panel discussions which will take place in Galway next week.
Ms Corless explained that during the event she will be explaining her research and her aim is to ensure that “our history is never forgotten.”
She said it is “absolutely vital that survivors speak, that they won’t be forgotten.”
Survivors want to give the public an understanding of how they were treated all of their lives, how they were scarred by what happened to them, she added.
The workshop and panel, organised by the history department at NUI Galway “should be very informative”, said Ms Corless and she hopes that all the oral histories can be taken and kept for posterity.
“Well done to the university. This is very important.”
