Social Democrat TD Cian O’Callaghan has called on the State to seize assets of the female religious orders that ran most of the country’s mother and baby homes as a means of paying for redress for former residents of those homes.

The Dublin Bay North TD asked the Taoiseach in the Dail last week: “Why are these orders not being raided by the Gardaí? Why are their assets not seized?”

“When will the State finally flex some legal muscle when it comes to these religious orders?” Deputy O’Callaghan asked, saying it was “unbelievable that the approach of successive Governments to these orders, which operated as criminal networks, is to roll over.”

He was speaking as Government negotiator Sheila Nunan submitted a final report on Mother and Baby Homes redress with conclusions from talks with seven Catholic bodies and the Church of Ireland.

In response, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told O’Callaghan that “we cannot simply go in and raid the premises.”