Woman to mark year protesting outside Dail

A round-the-clock protester outside the Dáil will mark the first anniversary of her picket tomorrow.

A round-the-clock protester outside the Dáil will mark the first anniversary of her picket tomorrow.

Sleeping overnight in a two-man tent, Dublin woman Marie Therese O'Loughlin is believed to be the longest-ever continuous protester outside the national parliament.

She claims that she was the victim of neglect in an institution as a baby and should be allowed to seek compensation at the Residential Institutions Redress Board tribunal.

A total of 35 TDs and Senators have raised her plight in the Dail and Seanad including Opposition party leaders and Seanad leader Mary O'Rourke.

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She said today: "I'm here 24/7 and 365 now. I'll be here until the general election and afterwards if I have to be. I'm as determined now as I was on day one. I've actually surprised myself with my strength."

The Taoiseach told the Dáil in February that the Morning Star mother and baby wasn't regulated by the Department of Education and is therefore not eligible for inclusion under the Redress Board.

However Marie Therese, who is in her 50s, wants Minister Mary Hanafin to sign a ministerial order to add the institution to the list.

As an 18-month-old baby, Marie Therese fell from her high-chair into an open fire at the formerly named Regina Coeli Mater Dei Unit on North Brunswick Street.

She sustained burns to her right hand - injuries which remain with her to this day.

Marie Therese later entered the Goldenbridge orphanage in Inchicore when she was four years old. She didn't see her mother again until she was in her 30s but was with her when she died in 1990.

She never knew her father but believes he is from Miltown Malbay, Co Clare and would like to contact him.

She is believed to be staging the longest-ever continuous protest outside the Dail.