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

I absolutely agree. I am not suggesting for a moment that we should place that obligation on families. I did not see a reference to development plans in the Deputy's question so I apologise if my answer was more on the national level that the specific level. The Deputy is absolutely right. We have seen a number of local authorities respond to the report of the commission quite proactively through the issuing of apologies. Many of the mother and baby institutions, particularly the county home institutions, were directly linked to the local authorities. As we know, local authorities were fully involved. Galway County Council actually met in the building of the mother and baby institution in Tuam, so there was a very close link there. I will absolutely consider what the Deputy is saying with regard to specific engagement with local authorities in respect of development plans. I will also continue to engage with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage on this point.

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