Children’s Minister James Reilly is to seek Oireachtas approval for the establishment of the inquiry into mother-and-baby homes before Christmas.

With the announcement of the terms of reference for the Commission of Investigation into ‘Mother and Baby’ homes due very shortly, there is deep concern among survivors, that the remit will be much too narrow.

With the announcement of the terms of reference for the Commission of Investigation into ‘Mother and Baby’ homes due very shortly, there is deep concern among survivors, that the remit will be much too narrow.

I am deeply dismayed that Steve McGarry (Letters, July 3), is concerned about the subjective religious belief of someone, even if that person is the Taoiseach. Have we not learned anything?

Northern Protestants who became pregnant outside of marriage were sent to Dublin’s Bethany Home "as a punishment, to add to their shame and to hide the family problem," according to a support group representing the home’s survivors.

Given that the Government has committed to consulting a wide range of opinion regarding the scope of the Commission of Investigation into mother-and-baby homes, I would like to issue a plea that the foremost issue to be decided should be which institutions are included.

May I take this opportunity of drawing to the Taoiseach’s attention, that given the recent deluge of information which is emerging with reference to the Mother and Baby Home at Tuam, Co. Galway, it is becoming imperative that the Government finally takes action to face up to this shocking episode in the history of the State.

The Minister of State with Responsibility for Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch, stated on May 8, that Alan Shatter "clearly handled some issues badly".

In a letter by B Cotton (April 24), which addressed the recent article in the Irish Examiner (April 17) about ‘Catholics for Choice‘, your correspondent states that ”as a practicing Catholic... contraception is banned, because sex was made by God to bring children into the world and not for self-gratification”.

VICTOR Stevenson looks and sounds like your average middle-aged, middle-class Northerner.

Diarmuid Martin is to be congratulated for his recent remarks that there is “no way” the abuse of thousands of children within the Irish church can be swept under the rug. Would that such moral courage and leadership was replicated by those who have responsibility to account for the treatment of children who were placed in Protestant institutions such as Bethany Dublin, and Westbank Greystones.