Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about this Bill tonight.

The most joyous occasion in the world has to be when a little baby is born to a mother, whether it is a boy or a girl. It is very sad to think this is what we are doing to those people who suffered in a darker time when people had different and wrong ideas. A child born to a girl or a woman in any circumstances has to be right. It is natural. Those girls and women were denied fair play, were sent to homes, were not let keep their children and were denied the mother and child bond which always happens when they are left together. No love that I know is greater than the love a mother has for her child. What happened to these girls in the past is very sad.

What the Government is trying to do with this Bill is mean. It denied many of the survivors the right to be heard by this commission, and to comment on the commission’s draft findings. The Government is now suggesting these survivors be limited to six months. I know someone who rang me today.

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