Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries
Dail Éireann — 2022-01-26
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Paul Murphy (PBP), Dublin South-West

I feel I am the one to point out that the emperor has no clothes here. The Taoiseach was quoted extensively in the article which carried the details of the leaked report. He was quoted as saying that he found the report shocking and difficult to read and he confirmed he would be making an apology to the survivors on behalf of the State and wider society. At the very least he had a conversation with the journalist, Jody Corcoran, on the Saturday. What did the Taoiseach do upon finding out that the Sunday Independent had a copy of this report? Did he contact his colleagues immediately and say there was a crisis situation in that this important report which should be in the hands of survivors had got into the media? What did he do about it at that stage when he knew a leak had occurred? Did he take emergency measures and say that the Government needed to get it into the hands of survivors to ensure there was no attempt to have spin at that stage? No, obviously he did not. Can there be an external investigation of the leak, as opposed to this managed process by the Department of the Taoiseach that has, unsurprisingly, failed to find the culprit?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2022-01-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:50:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-01-26