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SURVIVORS GROUPS ARE considering a legal challenge to the controversial legislation on homes for mothers and babies.
Protesters staged a rally in front of Áras an Uachará this afternoon after President Michael D Higgins signed the bill into law.
He highlighted concerns that “are serious and must be addressed” about the legislation, but said it did not raise a proper constitutional issue for referral to the Supreme Court.
This has left the door open for groups to challenge the law through judicial review.
KRW Law, a group of human rights lawyers representing some of the survivors, said this is under consideration.
Attorney Owen Beattie said: “The president’s decision to sign this legislation leaves any citizen open to challenge the provisions of the bill in the future.
We are now considering with those we represent whether or not to issue a legal challenge to the bill through judicial review.
The bill transfers a database of 60,000 records, created during a five-year investigation into the homes, to Tusla, the agency for children and families.
The data was collected by a commission established under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 2004, which stipulates that commission records must be kept secret for 30 years.
More than 170,000 people have signed a petition calling for the documents to be unsealed.
Protesters gathered today outside the Áras an Uacharáin gate in Dublin.
Source: Saxony Lazarov
Majella Connolly, an adoptee of St. Patrick’s Mother and Baby House in Dublin, was among dozens of protesters outside Áras an Uachtarain today.
She said she felt “let down, betrayed and rejected by the government.”
Connolly said he was never informed that the records could be sealed when he presented himself to give evidence of the investigation.
She said, “Did they tell me? No, God no. No way. None of us were told that it would be destroyed, that we couldn’t read the evidence. No, they never told us that.
It is terrible that we had to go out today to fight to get my basic information, to know who I am and where I come from.
Connolly recounted how they separated her from her mother when she was around six weeks old and put her up for adoption.
She said: “I grew up in Ireland as an adoptee, not knowing my basic information. It doesn’t look like anyone.
“My first blood relative I met was the day my son was born. I have grown up without really knowing who I am or where I come from. “
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Protesters place baby shoes in the area outside Áras in Dublin today.
Source: Rollingnews.ie
Former Solidarity TD and activist Ruth Coppinger said the legislation was “re-traumatizing” victims and called on the government to act.
She said: “You can’t leave it up to a poor unfortunate to take on a long and expensive legal case. The Government has to act here and has to listen to the wave of people on this issue.
While the government has insisted that the bill provides access to survivors of maternal and child homes, this claim has been challenged by opposition TDs, survivors, legal experts, and academics.
Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman previously said: “Under current law, the commission feels it is obliged to delete this data, so we have to change the law so that the data can be saved.
Ruth Coppinger at the mothers and babies homes protest event in Dublin today.
Source: Saxony Lazarov
Coppinger said: “If that’s the case, why did the minister rush this?
Why didn’t you convene a meeting with stakeholders and adoptees? Why were you quick to ignore and not accept any amendment?
“That makes people exceptionally suspicious. It smells like an arrogant attitude where they just didn’t realize how deeply this affects people.
“It is very deep. There is not a family in the country that has not been affected in some way.
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