Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Yes, it does. That is our understanding of the use of the term “ordinarily” here. It can refer to a person who was resident for one night in an institution. Indeed, unfortunately, considering so many of these children are children who died very shortly after childbirth, the term would have to encompass that in order to ensure that they fell with the remit of this legislation. That is our understanding.

We have engaged with the Parliamentary Counsel on the use of the term “ordinarily” in other legislation. It is our understanding that it is sufficient to indicate that this relates to residents, as well as to distinguish someone who was resident for a short time, even for one night, from someone who was not resident in the place and who was visiting.

It is an important point, so we will touch base with the counsel again to get absolute clarity there. Just so the record is very clear, we intend that the term “ordinarily resident” will include someone who was resident for a period of one day in an institution.