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President Michael D Higgins has signed a controversial mother-and-baby home bill after “careful consideration.”
A statement from the Irish president tonight said he had “considered all the options available to him” before the decision, having followed the bill’s tour of the Oireachtas houses and listened to the debates.
Opposition TDs had previously urged the president not to sign the bill, over which there has been some disagreement.
Opponents of the move believe that the transfer of the data from the Mother and Baby Household Investigation Commission to Tusla will mean that survivors will not be able to access crucial information, but former Tanaiste Leo Varadkar says people have received the “wrong message” and that “the file will not be sealed, kept and hidden for 30 years”.
As of Sunday afternoon, more than 140,000 people had also signed a petition calling for the seal to be lifted on a file containing the records.
President Higgins said the issues raised were “serious and must be addressed,” but the bill itself did not raise a proper constitutional issue for referral to the Supreme Court.
He also noted that his signing of the document means that any citizen can challenge it in the future.
Tonight’s presidential statement read: “President Michael D. Higgins, having carefully considered all constitutional and other aspects of the ‘Commission of Inquiry (Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters) Records and Other Matters, Project Bill 2020 ‘, and having considered all the options available to him, he signed the bill today, one of four bills presented to the president late last week.
“The President has followed the approval of this bill by both Chambers of the Oireachtas and has listened carefully to the debate and the questions raised about the rights of access to information submitted to a Commission.
“While it was noted that significant concerns were raised in the discussion of this bill that are serious and must be addressed, the bill itself did not directly raise an appropriate constitutional issue for a referral of Article 26.1.1.
“When considering any legislative act, the president must also take into account article 34.3 of the Bunreacht na hEireann, which states that no court can challenge the validity of any legislation after a referral by the president to the Supreme Court. The president’s decision to Sign this legislation leaves any citizen open to challenge the provisions of the bill in the future. “
Article 26.1.1 of the Constitution establishes that “The President may, after consulting with the Council of State, refer any bill to which this article applies to the Supreme Court for a decision on the question of whether said bill law or any specific provision or the provisions of said bills is or is repugnant to this Constitution or any provision thereof. “
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