Labour leader threatens legislation to seize Church assets

Legislation should be introduced to seize assets from the Churches if they do not contribute to the state’s scheme for former residents of mother and baby homes, Alan Kelly has said.

The Labour leader made his comments on Wednesday after the Taoiseach gave a full state apology.

“In regard to redress, we cannot undo what happened before. We need to ensure, this time around, that the religious institutions make their contribution to redress for the families and women affected,” Mr Kelly said.

“Once they agree to that, or when they are made to agree, if they do not make their contribution, we will pass legislation – I will draft it myself – to enable us to take their assets and ensure they make that contribution.”

He also threatened to seize the records of the orders who ran the homes.

“We also need to ensure that all archives relating to social services provided by the religious institutions are nationalised. That is a very important point. They provided a service in lieu of the State. We need to nationalise all of their archives in order that everything can be preserved”.