Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo the concerns raised by colleagues about the treatment of journalists in Egypt. I welcome the release of Dr. Meriam Ibrahim by a Sudanese court. The EU mission in Sudan appears to have done good work. Her husband being an American citizen, it falls to the American authorities to ensure she and her child are safe when she leaves the country. That does not take away from the continuing questions about respect for freedom of religious and philosophical beliefs in many parts of our world. We must continue to be vigilant about this.
I commend an article by the Rev. Vincent Twomey who was mentioned in this Chamber last week when he wrote about the proposed inquiry into the mother and baby homes. It was a very learned article in The Irish Timeslast week in which he made two significant points. He asked why the inquiry would not be extended to include the treatment of people in county homes in general. He asked the pertinent question if it was because they were not run by religious organisations that they did not appear to command the same level of interest. Many children, who were the second or subsequent child of mothers who were there were left in those county homes. He also asked whether it would be good to have an independent voice involved in this report to provide a more neutral and calm assessment of the story. The Associated Press has accepted and acknowledged its misrepresentation of this story. It wrote: "The Associated Press was among the media organizations ... repeating incorrect Irish news reports-----