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26th Oct 2020

President Higgins signs Mother and Baby Homes Bill into law

Rudi Kinsella

mother and baby homes

“The President’s decision to sign this legislation leaves it open to any citizen to challenge the provisions of the Bill in the future.”

President of Ireland Michael D Higgins has signed the Mother and Baby Homes Bill into law, but went out of his way to highlight a number of concerns he had.

He said that a number of issues that were raised during the discussion surrounding the subject “are serious and must be addressed”.

In the official statement, he also highlighted that by signing the Bill into law, it can now be officially challenged by any member of the public.

He said: “The President’s decision to sign this legislation leaves it open to any citizen to challenge the provisions of the Bill in the future.”

You can read his statement in full here.

This comes after the Government won a Dáil vote on the controversial mother-and-baby home legislation by the substantial margin of 78 votes to 67.

This vote took place on Thursday night (22 October).

This vote means that the archives that hold information with regards to the mother and baby homes will be sealed for 30 years.

You can see which way party members voted in this Bill below: