Ms Alice McEvoy:

Language stigmatises people and if somebody is called a "birth mother" or "first mother", it defines those people. We are always our children's mothers. The language may state "given up for adoption" but we did not give them up. We were forced to sign these papers. I feel the language could influence the whole narrative of the Bill. I have found in the past with other changes of terminology, especially with LGBT groups, it changed people's thinking towards those groups. That is how I see the narrative going. It is so important to get the terminology of the Bill right. Once it is entered into legislation, it will be there forever. That is why if members might think we are going on about something minor, it is not minor to us.

There are phrases like "given up", "taken" and terms like "first offenders". Mothers have been called every name under the sun but we are just mothers. That is our preference. If the language of the Bill is right, it will influence society in general to look at us as we are, just as mothers. We are the same as everyone and all mothers in Ireland. The labelling we see is not for our good.