Kenny got help from 72k-a-year speechwriter for powerful Tuam speech

Miriam O’Callaghan has worked with the Taoiseach on many of his best known speeches

Taoiseach Enda Kenny got help from his €72,000-a-year speechwriter for his powerful Dáil address about the Tuam mother and baby home.

During his first term in government, Kenny worked with speechwriter Miriam O’Callaghan on many of his best known speeches. This included his condemnation of the Vatican’s failure to deal with clerical sexual abuse in 2011 and his state apology to the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries in 2013.

The Sunday Business Post has learned that Miriam O’Callaghan - who is no relation to the RTE presenter of the same name - alsohad a role in his emotional speech about the discovery of the bodies of infants from the Tuam Mother and Baby home in the Dáil last week.