Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2023-05-16
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

I appeal to the Minister to go back and fight again. I hope and believe he probably has pushed on this, but I appeal to him to fight harder on the inclusion of all of those within that six-month period. If there is no rationale, it is good and useful to put that on the record today so that there is pressure collectively on all of the parties, including the parties of Government, to come back on Report Stage with a scheme that is somewhat closer to fit for purpose. We need details of the waiver scheme. We need to have them publicly and we need to have real clarity on that because it would be an incredible injustice if the waiver related to matters not covered. It was mentioned in terms of non-disclosure agreements, NDAs, and it is also worth mentioning that the UN Committee Against Torture has been extremely clear that collective reparation and administrative reparation programmes should not render ineffective the individual's right to remedy and to redress. Let us be in line with the UN committee on torture. There should not be a waiver at all but if there is a waiver, it certainly should not be extended in the potentially ambiguous way it is at the moment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2023-05-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:54+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-05-16