Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Bon Secours hospitals are the biggest private health provider in this country. They have an accumulated profit of €74 million and have on their hands the bones of the dead children of Tuam. If we are serious about putting behind us the legacy of what happened in the mother and baby homes, the very least we should ask this order to do is disband and write itself out of the history books of this country. We also have the continued abuse of women because of our abortion laws, and Vera Twomey is outside Leinster House now with Deputy Gino Kenny seeking access to health care for her very sick child. The abuse of women and children has not stopped and has been outlined time and time again in this Dáil.

Is the Taoiseach aware the church has offered to pay back €480 million because of the scandals? It has actually paid back €211 million and the State has paid €1.4 billion. When will the church, with all its lucrative lands and wealth, be made to pay back? When will we get it out of our lives, out of our beds, out of our hospitals and out of our schools? The way to do that is to start by calling on the Bon Secours to disband, to pay for a memorial as a fitting tribute to those children and their families and to pay for the High Court cases of the likes of Peter Mulryan, who has had to go to the High Court to find out what happened to his sister.

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