The Taoiseach has described the treatment of women and children in mother and baby homes as “an abomination”.
Enda Kenny was speaking as the government announced a Commission of Inquiry into conditions at the homes.
The Taoiseach said if the issue was not properly handled, Ireland's soul would itself lie in an unmarked grave.
And he has told the Dáil that the Ireland of today had to come to terms with what he called its “not-so-glorious past”.
“It was an extraordinary time when the women of Ireland, Mná na hÉireann, and poor women especially were held up to a particularly high and callous account” he said.
“It's not an exaggeration to say that their treatment in many cases and their babies was an abomination” he added.
