Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Finneran, and thank him for listening to this harrowing and upsetting debate. Everybody who comes to the Chamber today to discuss the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse does so, like me, with a very heavy heart.

The comments of our colleague, Senator Healy Eames, are pitiful and shameful. She has debased the tone of the debate. I come to this debate bereft of politics; I am not wearing political colours. I do not believe anybody should wear a political hat when we debate this report. What Senator Healy Eames has done in her comments is not what the victims would desire or deserve. I will not lower my standards by attacking, but I wish to put on the record that I am absolutely appalled by what she said today. I remind the Senator of the "Questions and Answers" programme last Monday night, when Mr. Michael O'Brien, a former Fianna Fáil councillor, rightly criticised the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, the Government and the Fianna Fáil Party. He also reminded Deputy Leo Varadkar to give the message to Deputy Enda Kenny that he should not play politics with this issue. I ask Senator Healy Eames not to play politics with the matter and not to debase the tone of the debate further than she has done.

I am a mother of four children and I would do time if anybody put a finger on any of them, let alone raped, buggered, pillaged and robbed them of their childhood and early adolescence. I would gladly do time if they were touched in any way. I cannot imagine what I would do if somebody interfered with them in the manner outlined in this report. I congratulate and commend Justice Sean Ryan and his team. It must have been an awfully difficult couple of years hearing this terrible evidence. I sat on the Medical Council which inquired into the caesarian hysterectomies carried out by Dr. Michael Neary. I was the only woman on a five-person committee and the only lay person. I had to read a sheet of paper five or six times to absorb how horrible the incidents were for the young women who were robbed of their wombs.

This report is a million times worse. The sad aspect of this is that for the 2,000 people who went before the commission, there must be another 2,000 persons whose stories we have not heard. The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, warned the public two weeks ago about this terrible report. If he had spent a month telling us how bad it would be, he could never have prepared us for it. I have only read the summary version. There are five volumes in the report and it would take months if not a year to read them and absorb their gravity. I hope this is the first of many debates on the report. One debate, with Senators getting ten or 15 minutes to speak, will not bring comfort or closure for the victims. We must talk about this report for a long time.

What can I say about the €1.8 million deal? It was wrong. The bill is now €1.3 billion. It is time the clergy and the religious orders stepped up to the mark. Can they blame the Irish public when it turns away from the church and religion? If they want anybody to stay in the church, they must step up to the mark and meet their responsibilities. As Michael O'Brien and other victims said, this is not, and never was, about money, it is about somebody saying: "Yes, we abused you; we were wrong and should not have done it; we apologise." A few nights ago the Taoiseach said the Government was sorry that it did not detect the children's pain or intervene to protect them. He was probably too young to know of these institutions and might not even remember them.

I grew up in Tullamore, County Offaly, and Daingean is only eight miles from there. I grew up with the word "reformatory". I did not know what a reformatory was but I knew it was not a nice place. I was a teenager in the mid-1970s and youth clubs were starting to become popular. I regularly went to a youth club in Tullamore. On a Friday night once a month a bus came from Daingean reformatory bringing young boys of my age for what we called a "hop". One would turn one's eyes away from the Tullamore lads because one wanted the good looking lads from Daingean reformatory. I have thought a great deal about those young fellows who were the same age as me, getting back on the bus after a great night in Tullamore, going back into that reformatory and what must have awaited them behind those dark walls. I know no more about them than that, but they are on my mind. I keep thinking, if only someone had said something. They did, but no one listened.

It is time the religious orders stepped up to the plate. The spokesperson on "Morning Ireland" yesterday was Sr. Marianne O'Connor, who I believe is a Sligo woman and an Ursuline sister. I live in Sligo with my four children. Her comments left a lot to be desired. I felt she was still trying to protect the interests of the religious congregations. She did great damage. I do not blame her; she is a spokesperson. It was a collective statement. However, she alienated people even more in their views of the religious congregations. I am glad those same congregations have woken up to the reality. It was public opinion that shook them and woke them up.

I welcome what the Taoiseach had to say last night when he called on them to shape up. Yesterday I asked that they would not be brought kicking and screaming and that they would give what they should to this. It is not about money and resources are scarce. As someone said in the House yesterday if the religious congregations do not pay up, although I believe they will, the Government will need to resort to using its funds to look after those who have suffered from what happened while the abusers get away with it. I am glad to see the Oblates, who ran the reformatory school in Daingean, the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers have come out to confirm they will step up to the mark and pay their fair share, and rightly so.

Like Senator O'Toole, I hope we will have more time to debate this matter. I am somewhat emotional today. One could not but be emotional given the gravity of the issue. One would need a heart of stone not to be touched by the pages I have read. One of the recommendations is to ensure a child-centred approach is taken and the voice of the child is heard in the development and implementation of policy.

There was a terrible case in Sligo a number of years ago. Everybody remembers the story of Sophia McColgan and her terrible family situation, living with her father. He has since served his time and has been released. Those children were not listened to and were turned away. Everyone they approached told them they were making up the stories. We need to ensure this will never happen again. With the level of public outcry, we will never let it happen again.