An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-26 ============================================================ Laura Harmon (LAB), Industrial and Commercial Panel I congratulate the two new TDs, Daniel Ennis in Dublin Central and Seán Kyne, our former Seanad colleague and Leader, on their elections. Comhghairdeachas agus beir bua. I wish them both well in the future. Of course, we now look forward to a by-election in the Seanad. I also want to congratulate Glasheen Boys' School in Cork city, which won the Sciath na Scol hurling championship. We are very proud of them in our local community and I congratulate the boys, their teachers and coaches as well. I want to raise the issue of survivors of institutional abuse. I have just come from a briefing in Buswells Hotel on this. Survivors are calling for a number of actions, the first of which is a commitment to a meaningful redress package for those who were boarded out. There should be an immediate removal of the 180-day eligibility requirement for mother and baby homes in terms of the redress scheme. The Labour Party has said that anyone who has spent a minute in a mother and baby home or institution should be liable for full redress. We also need to ensure that all institutions operating within the network of mother and baby homes and county home institutions, including private nursing homes and other settings, should be included in this. It is really disappointing to see that there has been such a low uptake of redress schemes. This is because it has not been promoted properly by the Government, or through embassies and representatives abroad either. These people are being doubly traumatised as a result of this. A redress scheme is one thing, but being excluded time and time again is extremely traumatising for survivors. We absolutely need to ensure that they have proper health and housing supports. We should have the Minister in the Seanad soon so we can have a full debate on this. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-26/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-26