President Higgins has signed the controversial Mother and Baby Homes Bill

DUBLIN: The Mother and Baby Homes Bill was signed by President Michael de Higgins despite numerous protests. He said the decision was taken after careful consideration of all constitutional and other aspects of the Commission of Investigation and after considering all available options.

A protest was scheduled to take place in Dublin’s Phoenix Park on Monday to pressure President Higgins to avoid signing the bill. The protest on Dublin’s Navan Road on Saturday was greeted with overwhelming public support.

A petition against the sealing of an archive containing mother and baby home records were signed by more than 150,000 peoples so far. Opposition TDs also asked the president not to sign the bill. Despite all this, President Higgins has signed the Mother and Baby Homes Bill into law.

The government won a crucial Dail vote by a majority of 67 to 78 votes on the controversial Mother and Baby Homes Bill law.

A statement released yesterday said that the President followed the passage of the Bill through both Houses of the Oireachtas. It further says that he had listened carefully to the debate and to the concerns posed in relation to the rights of access to information submitted to the Commission.

“While noting that important concerns were raised in the discussion on this Bill which are serious and must be addressed, the Bill itself did not directly raise a constitutional issue suitable for an Art 26.1.1 referral.”

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

Archives and survivor testimonies, collected by the Commission, will be sealed for 30 years under legislation from 2004.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Dáil that the controversial legislation had “cast a long and very dark shadow over our country”.