While some people may warn against judging the past with the knowledge of the present, the Government’s initial probe into mother-and-baby homes shows stark questions were being asked about death rates at the homes 75 years ago.

According to records held in the archives of the Kerry County Library, in December 1929 the Department of Local Government and Public Health (DLGPH) issued a circular to all Irish local authorities requesting information on "unmarried mothers" in county homes.

The Taoiseach or perhaps his civil servants and those in the Department of Justice appear worried that including Bethany Home in a redress scheme similar to that offered to Magdalene women opens up the state to further claims from broadly comparable Roman Catholic institutions.

AS details emerge about the routine deaths of children at a former Dublin mother and baby home, the Minister for Education has suggested that most of the survivors will not be entitled to redress.

MINISTER for Health Mary Harney has agreed to raise the question of the state’s ambivalent role in sending women to Magdalene laundries at a forthcoming Cabinet meeting.