Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This evening, we are back on Committee Stage of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill. I wish to make an appeal to colleagues across the Chamber at this point, because something fundamentally wrong is happening. A Bill that is fundamentally flawed is going to be passed on Committee and Report Stages over the next week and then passed into law. As we all know, this is a Bill that excludes up to 30,000 victims and survivors of mother and baby homes. Some 21,000 people are being excluded on a completely arbitrary basis. If they were in an institution for less than six months they will get zero, but if they were there for more than six months they will get some compensation. As everyone knows, the Minister has never explained that rationale because clearly there is no rationale anyone could ever justify.