Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister must have had a very bad day at Cabinet yesterday because of the briefing around the story and the unnamed coward of a Minister who would not actually put his or her name to what he or she said on the front page of a national newspaper. If that person feels that strongly about this and is a member of the Government, he or she should come out and identify him or herself.

With regard to the mother and baby home redress fears, I think the Minister's intentions are very good. Yesterday, she did a tremendous amount of damage to people who have been in such situations and who are above all else entitled to be treated as free and equal citizens of this Republic, not as victims or survivors, but as people who get free and equal treatment in this Republic. The Minister should have been able to tell us that, even though the decision may not have been made yet and we know there are no findings of fact here, the commission should have been widened to all institutions and should also include the situation of birth mothers where their consent was not properly forthcoming. We know of many of those cases. It should also include the falsification of records and American adoptions. If the Minister is intent on looking at scoping exercises, can we see scoping exercises that are of meaning and value to people affected by this?

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