Senators row over mother and baby homes commission bill

Independent senators Rónán Mullen and Lynn Ruane clashed over “present hypocricies” and a lack of honesty during Seanad debates over the Mother and Baby Homes Commission Bill.

The argument arose when Senator Mullen said politicians were “running with the pack” in condemning the past, rather than looking for “nuance”.

Lynne Ruane shot back that Mr Mullen’s “line of debate is insulting to the survivors about whom we are speaking. We are speaking about a specific area of the church and institutions. We are not here to defend something that clearly happened.”

Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Mr Mullen’s said that he was not defending the “cruelty” of the past but attacking “the blanket shaming of everybody who acted in that past”.

“I think there needs to be a greater maturity among politicians about speaking fairly and truthfully without denying a single thing about people’s experiences,” Mr Mullen continued. “It demands honesty from us about the past of others and our own present in terms of what we do and what we say.”

He said it irritated people that he referred to two present social issues, abortion and direct provision: “Some of the people loudly banging the drum for accountability in relation to the past have shown no concern for unborn children in the present.”

The senators argument took place while a bill regarding the information gathered by the Mother and Baby Home Commission was being debated.

The main purpose of the Bill is to ensure that specific details not released in the Commission’s report will not be redacted, struck from the public record.

The Bill has garnered much criticism both for the speed with which it is being rushed through and due to the fact the details from the commission cannot be accessed for 30 years, under current legislation.

Amendments to the Bill suggested by the Seanad are currently under discussion before the Dáil.