“My own country thought it was acceptable to lock up unmarried mothers as late as 1996.”

Golfer, Padraig Harrington has justified the controversial merger of the PGA tour with the Saudi Arabian funded LIV Golf when questioned about human rights abuses there by saying:

“…𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟.

𝑀𝑦 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑢𝑝 𝑢𝑛𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑠 1996.”

Anna Kavanagh, Convenor to the Alliance of Birthmothers Campaigning for Justice, Ireland’s leading independent non-Tusla funded advocacy group has responded by saying: “It’s a pity he didn’t go on to say that the Irish state continues to abuse mothers and their children. Bernard Durkan told the Dáil on 23 February:

“𝐼 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑎𝑤 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦. 𝑈𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑎 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑟𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚.”