Bríd Smith TD outlines her arguments against the Bill to seal Mother and Baby Home records.

Minister Roderic O’ Gorman’s justification for rushing through the Mother and Baby Homes Bill, is that if the bill is not passed, the files will automatically be destroyed on October 30th. I wanted to know – how exactly? Will they somehow self-destruct on October 30th? This makes no sense, and the Minister needs to stop listening to whatever top echelons of the Civil Service are trying to convince him of this. Survivors of the Mother and Baby Homes need access to their records. This Bill must be amended by whatever means necessary to ensure they get it