The Fine Gael Minister has served as a TD for Wexford for 22 years, and served as Government Chief Whip and as Minister of State with Responsibility for Defence.
LET it go into the history books in all its damning detail. The reality of life for thousands of women and infants in Ireland - so far removed from the image of comely maidens dancing at the crossroads, and all the children of the nation being cherished equally.
This wasn t something that the British inflicted on us. This is something that powerful Irish people did to the powerless. Now that it s too late, Ireland is up in arms at the mother and baby homes. But when it mattered, when lives could have been saved and torment prevented, who spoke out or took a stand?