Irish people are angry as only 20 TDs show up to Tuam babies debate
A debate on the Tuam babies scandal was scheduled to kick off at 10am this morning, however the debate was delayed as not enough TDs showed up for the meeting.
Oireachtas rules state that 20 of the 158 elected TDs must be present for a debate to occur, meaning the meeting started behind schedule as the Dáil waited for others to show up.
Once the debate began, Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone issued an apology to the victims of the scandal, and told TDs she will consider including all residential Irish institutions in the current inquiry.
Dáil debate on Tuam babies' scandal was delayed as less than 20 TDs showed up…shows how much they care and how seriously they're taking it
— caoimhe (@xcaoimhe_) March 9, 2017
Twitter and Facebook users quickly became aware of the dwindled numbers of TDs present, and they definitely were not impressed by the government's percieved dismissive attitude towards the issue.
Many Facebook users are demanding a list of the officials who did not show up to be published, so that they can officially complain to their elected representatives.
its an absolute disgrace and embarrassment. There should be a list of those who failed to turn up, it's simply unacceptable.
— caoimhe (@xcaoimhe_) March 9, 2017
"Where can you see a list of those who did attend so we can email those from our constituency who are supposedly meant to be representing us who did not show up for this debate. I'm totally disgusted by this," said one.
"What the hell needs to happen for them to turn up? A debate on cutting their expenses would have it jammed. Just furious."
"It's because they don't care! They don't care when it happened why would we think they care now! By the way they sleep very well at night in case anyone is interested," commented another outraged citizen,on a Facebook post about the debate.
Dáil debate on Tuam babies' scandal delayed as fewer than 20 TDs show up#politicians prove they don't give a damn about Tuam babies.
— ManningPat (@Leeview1803) March 9, 2017
"Aw well it's not as if it's water charges just dead babies, sure we wouldn't bother marching for that," said another.
Katherine Zappone labelled the issue “a scandal of huge proportions.”
