Friday, January 17, 2025

Katherine Zappone was ‘sarcastic and ignorant’, mother and baby home survivor says of Seanad hopeful

A mother and baby home survivor has criticised Katherine Zappone’s Seanad bid, describing her as “ignorant” during her time as children’s minister.

Sheila O’Byrne, who gave birth in a mother and baby home and whose son was given up for adoption, said Ms Zappone was “very sarcastic and ignorant” in dealing with survivors when she was in cabinet.

She also criticised a collaborative forum of mother and baby home survivors, which was set up by Ms Zappone, calling it a “sham”.

Ms Zappone is running for a seat in the Seanad elections on the Trinity College panel.

Ms O’Byrne was sent to St Patrick’s mother and baby home on Dublin’s Navan Road in 1976 after becoming pregnant at the age of 19.

She laid out her concerns this week in a letter sent to Trinity College electoral register members, as well as to the university’s students’ union.

“I have seen that previous minister Katherine Zappone has been nominated for a Senate position,” she wrote. “I am writing in my objection to her nomination. She headed off into the sunset without a care and left mother and baby home survivors in dismay, no answers for our living and our dead.”

Ms O’Byrne added that Ms Zappone “never engaged” with mothers and “never allowed us to have our say”.

“We found former minister Katherine Zappone very stern and bitter towards us,” she said. “We, the mothers, were never allowed to have our say of the living experiences while incarcerated and sentenced for the crime of breaking the original sin. We were punished by the church and State.

“I found former minister Katherine Zappone towards me very sarcastic and ignorant.”

In the letter, she also wrote about Ms Zappone’s involvement in controversies in 2021. 

The Seanad hopeful got caught up in a row when it emerged the cabinet signed off on her appointment for a UN special envoy role, which she later declined.

Nobody else was considered for the role and it emerged that Ms Zappone had been lobbying senior ministers for a position. 

She later turned down a request to appear before the Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss what had happened.

Her appointment resulted in a motion of no-confidence in Simon Coveney, who was foreign affairs minister.

He was also forced to attend two foreign affairs committee meetings due to inconsistencies in his testimony.

Ms Zappone was involved in an­other controversy when it emerged she planned a party in the Merrion Hotel, Dublin, six days before the appointment.

It was attended by 50 people, including tánaiste Leo Varadkar, at a time when Covid restrictions were in place.

The government was subsequently forced to seek the advice of the attorney general, who said it complied with the rules at the time.

Ms O’Byrne said Ms Zappone had invited professionals and people in government to a party “while everyone else abided by the Covid rules”.

The campaigner printed out her letter, laminated it and held a protest outside the gates of Leinster House yesterday.

Ms Zappone did not respond to a request for comment. She formerly served as an Independent TD and a minister in the 2016-2020 minority administration headed by Fine Gael.