Volunteers in west Dublin are staffing a new helpline aiming to lend an ear to the 57,000 survivors of Ireland's Mother and Baby Homes.

Society of Survivors is offering to help people research what happened to them or their relatives.

The final report on the State's inquiry into the institutions is due out in January.

South Dublin County Councillor Francis Timmons was adopted from Madonna House in Blackrock and has co-founded the helpline.

He says the language we use to describe the system is all wrong.