Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Senator Bacik has said practically everything I wanted to say. It smacks of laziness, of inappropriateness and of precisely what is going on here today, namely, the rushing of legislation through the House. Somebody somewhere notices something that needs to be done, and we stick it into one of the most contentious Bills that has come to this House in my six years here. It is completely inappropriate when we think about the people we have been referring to all day, irrespective of which side of the mother and baby homes issue one is on.

I am sorry to give the Minister a bit of a lashing for it because I am sure he was asked to do this because of the urgency involved. However, it breaks my heart when I think of the women and children who are watching this today only to see something about personal injuries stuck in the middle of the Bill. The greatest injury of all was done to the mothers we are talking about and many of their children in the mother and baby homes, yet we stick this in the middle of the Bill. It is sloppy and I am sorry to see it there.

I do not hold the Minister responsible. However, I would ask him to take the matter back to Cabinet and say that this is not the way to do business and to ask that they stop lumping one thing on top of another. The Greens seem to be the guys who have got the hammering off us for the past couple of weeks in respect of various items of legislation, which is not fair. I have said enough, but this is highly inappropriate.