Labour TD Seán Sherlock spoke about, Dr James Deeny Chief Medical Adviser of the Republic of Ireland, who worked in the Bessborough mother and baby home.
He got choked up as he spoke about a report where the children were described as “miserable scraps of humanity, wisened and emancipated and almost all had rashes and sores all over their bodies, hands and heads”.
“Forgive me for getting upset, Leas Ceann Comhairle, that has to be dealt with, we have to deal with it face on,” he told the Dáil.
Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carrol MacNeill also had to hold back tears as she spoke about the “animalistic” scream that came from a mother who had found out that her baby had been taken away from the home for adoption without notice or consent.
Kildare priest rescued mother from Protestant home in 1939 - Mother and Baby Report
Home set up by Legion of Mary member, a senior civil servant, was in terrible state
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A battle for mothers between Roman Catholic and Protestant institutions involved a Kildare priest, according to one of the chapters in the Commission on Mother and Babies report.
The report on the Regina Coeli hostel, set up in Dublin by Frank Duff, founder of the Roman Catholic Legion of Mary organisation said that in 1939 a woman was brought to Regina Coeli that year by a Catholic priest from Kilcullen “who rescued her from Bethany Home.”