Counselling services available to those affected by Mother and Baby Homes

Fine Gael TD for Cavan/Monaghan, Joe O’Reilly, today welcomed the announcement by Minister for Children, Charlie Flanagan TD, that wide ranging counselling services have been made available for those affected by the Mother and Baby Homes issue.

“There are hundreds of women and their now grown up children, who have been painfully reminded of the details of the Mother and Baby Homes in the past number of weeks, I am very aware that. These people have been trying to deal with the repercussions of these institutions for years and I am pleased that the Minister has moved to put vital counselling services in place.

“Various types of support are needed and so a number of types of counselling services have been made available.

  “I have spoken openly about my feelings on the Mother and Baby Homes; I believe the enormous suffering and pain endured by the mothers and babies was horrific and an outright scandal, but it is unfortunately the case that there was mass acceptance of what was happening in these institutions.

“Thankfully with the passing of time, Irish society has changed and a thorough commission of investigation has now been commissioned by Minister Flanagan to investigate this issue. A cross departmental review committee will report before the end of this month to outline further details of the investigation.  

“The Minister is also welcoming submissions from organisations and individuals in relation to   the   proposed Commission of Investigation. Those who would like to make suggestions regarding the scope of the investigation, the terms of reference or other general matters can email [email protected]/* */