Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The evidence I have put on the record in respect of the two legal firms representing 167 of the women shows that it is not a case of those firms seeking to line their pockets with money. They are quite willing - they are absolutely enthusiastic in this regard - to negotiate an agreed settlement. They put that fact on the record and the Minister rejected to opportunity that was offered in his response to them. That response issued on the same day on which the Minister placed on the record of the House the very comments I quoted at the start of this exchange.

I met a number of the women during the summer months. They are good and decent people and they do not have the open choice the Minister states they have available to them in terms of having the courts address their issues. They are dependent on the processing of the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Bill in order to give them the choice to which the Minister refers. I urge him to accept what they have said to me in this regard. One woman asked me, "How many surviving victims must die before the Minister and his Department act?" The women in general have also asked me whether the policy is one of delay until they all die. Those are their words, not mine.

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