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A NUMBER OF Fianna Fail TDs have complained that the campaign against the controversial Mother and Baby Homes Bill has been “exploited”, “manipulated” and “kidnapped” by political opponents.
Niall Collins TD said TheJournal.ie which is “pretty obvious” who is doing this and also defended comments he made on Facebook in which he said that someone concerned about the bill was being “misled by online trolls.”
Collins said it is “as clear as day” that people are getting on the back of the campaign to abuse politicians, but opposition parties have denied that this is the case.
Social Democrat TD Holly Cairns has said that government parties are being “disrespectful to survivor groups” by suggesting that strong opposition to the bill is motivated by politics.
“All of my comments online and in the Dáil were based on what the surviving activists wanted said,” Cairns said.
Limerick TD Collins has claimed that “online abuse” is being “orchestrated” against government TDs.
“People tell me to watch my back, saying ‘bastard, I hope you die from Covid.’ All these kinds of things. I mean, the online abuse that has been directed at us is just unreal, ”he said.
And it’s being done in an orchestrated way and it’s unfortunate how the issue has been hijacked for political gain. Such a sensitive and emotional subject.
When asked who is “hijacking” the campaign, Collins replied: “People involved in politics, people who can find out for themselves, it’s pretty obvious.”
Last week, Fianna Fáil Senator Lisa Chambers said Sinn Féin “politically hijacked” the bill.
Answering questions on the subject last week, Fianna Fail TD Cathal Crowe wrote on Facebook that Sinn Féin had been “running paid advertising about this and infiltrating support groups for survivors.”
Addressing this specific claim today, Homes for Mothers and Babies activist Claire McGettrick said Sinn Féin “had no role” in the campaign, but that they have since received support from various opposition parties.
“Nope. The campaign was conceived by Dr. Maeve O’Rourke, Katherine O’Donnell, and myself (and funded by Justice for Magdalene’s Research). Sinn Féin had no role in its operation. We are very grateful for the support we have received from the opposition and it is our policy to work with all parties and with none ”, McGettrick wrote on Twitter.
The invoice
Last week, the Dáil approved the government’s mother and baby homes bill by 78 votes to 67.
The bill allows the transfer of a database of 60,000 records compiled by the Commission on Homes for Mothers and Babies to Tusla.
Many survivors and legal experts have expressed anger at the bill, and opposition TDs also expressed frustration that the government would not consider amendments to the legislation.
Collins says he has no problem with campaign groups that oppose the government’s approach, adding that “we live in a democracy” and that opposition should be expected.
Minister of State Niall Collins.
Source: Leah Farrell / Rollingnews.ie
He said that a email from him shared online, in which he referred to “a repulsive online campaign” involving “very unpleasant people”, he referred to people who, according to him, were exploiting the situation and not activists.
On Facebook, Collins also told one person that they were being “misled by online trolls” for saying that Fianna Fail was “keeping these records for 30 years.”
Defending this post, Collins said that people are not clear about what the controversial bill does:
When I talk to some people on the phone, when people contact me and I speak to them directly and I explain the situation to them, they say ‘well, I was not aware of that, I was not aware of the other side of that’. It is terrible that such a sensitive subject has been hijacked.
When asked if the government could have handled the debate on the issue better, Collins said: “I am not going to criticize the government in relation to it. It is what it is and had to be done when it had to be done. ”
‘Quite unpleasant’
Another Fianna Fail TD, John Lahart, also claimed that an “orchestrated social media campaign” around the bill has been “quite disgusting” and that people’s fears have been “manipulated”
Lahart, however, says the government could have handled last week’s opposition to the bill differently.
“My own opinion is that I think that the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the leader of the Green Party should have come together to the height of this to clarify and reassure people, especially the survivors,” he said.
Because it’s a very, very sensitive subject and it’s easily misunderstood and it’s easy to manipulate people’s fears and I think a lot of that has been done.
On whether the opposition’s amendments should have been accepted during last week’s debate, Lahart said:
I think guillotining legislation may make sense in some contexts, and in this context it required careful and thoughtful debate around the issue, despite the deadlines the minister felt he was facing.
Lahart said TD’s emails were “flooded 10 days after” the debate and that the government “was simply not sufficiently aware of the reality of the people’s fears.”
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On the opposition side, Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns says that opposition politicians raised amendments that were suggested by groups of survivors.
“They had extremely simple requests for guaranteed access to their own information and for an index of the file for transparency, these requests were ignored,” he said.
That the government TDs redouble their defense of this illegal policy is puzzling. This is not a political problem, it is a human rights problem. Yes, there are some extremists online, but the vast majority of the thousands of messages I have received and seen on social media are civilian and only seek the truth.
“There is real anger and pain, and the fact that the government parties ignore it aggravates the suffering of the survivors of the most terrible human rights abuse at the hands of the state,” he added.
Speaking to Newstalk’s On the Record with Gav Reilly on Sunday, Minister Roderic O’Gorman said the way the 2004 legislation seals records “is no longer morally feasible.” He said that he would continue to participate in the problem to find a solution.
“I am determined to ensure that we can provide people with access to information about early life, that is the least that survivors of maternal and child homes deserve.”
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