Susan O'Keeffe (Labour)

I have asked the question. I ask that these questions be put to the Ministers. I also ask that the Ministers co-operate with the Minister for Foreign Affairs to release any details his Department has which relate to the requests for passports made by nuns in mother and baby homes for the sale of babies and children to the United States between the 1940s and the 1970s. I also ask the Ministers if child benefit was paid in regard to those babies and children in mother and babies homes and, if so, the way that money was spent.

This is a huge area which I accept these Ministers were not involved in at the time, but there is an onus on us to pursue these questions. I ask that the Ministers give their response to these questions at some point. We will have to have some kind of investigation to get to the bottom of some of these cases. Women have been asking questions for many years and there has been no resolution.