Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Moloney, to the House for this harrowing debate. It is a shame we must have it in the first place.

I listened to Senator Corrigan's contribution and I compliment her on the way she spoke with such heartfelt compassion for people who have been abused. When she spoke of people who had intervened, it made me question whether people had listened, and I suppose the kernel of the issue is whether anyone listened. The shame of the matter is that people in authority did not listen.

Senator Brendan Ryan named some of the organisations and they rang hollow in my mind. When I was thinking of the Brothers of Charity and the Sisters of Mercy, I asked myself what mercy was shown.

The Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs heard a presentation today from the eminent Fr. Seán Healy and Sr. Brigid Reynolds, representatives of CORI. They spoke about the heartache they were feeling as individuals and the pain and the anger they have felt with their colleagues. They spoke of the horror of the matters which they were having to discuss at the committee. They wanted to clear up for the committee that their organisation was not part of the congregations involved and that they still represent, on a social and justice vein, all the organisations but were not there to speak for the 18 congregations. That is important to put on the record because we cannot tar every religious organisation or person with the same brush.

I, too, welcome that a Garda deputy commissioner has been appointed so that these thugs will be brought to justice and will get the sentences they deserve for the brutality they brought to bear on little children.

Senator Healy Eames spoke about mandatory reporting. Only last week it was brought to my attention where a little child had been interfered with. Only for the good Stay Safe programme that child would not have been able to communicate the inappropriate behaviour. That child went through all the various channels — the social worker channel and the Garda channel. It was eventually found that a cousin had also been interfered with and that little child had learning difficulties. However, he also had been through the Stay Safe programme and he was able to speak about what was a secret and what was not a secret, and that the behaviour was inappropriate. Alas, the only Garda unit in the country able to deal with little children like this, even though they were priority one, was not available for two weeks. I found that extraordinary when there were two children of the one family who were being abused, had been interfered with and had reported to all the correct channels. To add insult to injury, the perpetrator then took his own life. This happened only last week.

While we speak of what happened in the past, I spoke about collective responsibility the other day. What I meant by that is there is an onus on people such as us and those in power such as the Department of Education and Science, the Judiciary and the medical profession to protect little children, and we badly need that legislation. Senator O'Toole spoke about cherishing the children and, indeed, I used those words last week in the Seanad. There is so little protection for children.

Because this has been such a highlighted topic in the past week it is an issue which has been discussed as I canvass throughout my constituency. Many people are telling their own stories. One woman told me about the cruelty man, which is what the man who was supposedly coming from what is now the ISPCC was called. In fact, he was coming to take children from their families. We all heard from Mr. Michael O'Brien that he and his seven siblings, including his sister as young as a month old, were taken from their mother and put into this institution and he was only two days there when he was raped. It is beyond words. To add insult to injury, this cruelty man got £9 per child for lifting these little children from their parents and from their family home. I cannot comprehend it.

Then there is the issue of the lives they led when they were in these homes. We heard Ms Christine Buckley during the week on television and on radio. She spoke about children being tied to their pots and left for hours, going to bed hungry and being forced to make rosary beads that made money for their organisations. They were not taught how to read and write. Will the laundry system that was run by the various religious organisations, of which there was one in my town, be investigated?

I was educated by the Sisters of Mercy and was a boarder at Summerhill in Athlone. I received a great education and the sisters cared for us as young women. They were feminists ahead of their time. They cared about us culturally, academically and spiritually. For this reason, I find it difficult to reconcile that experience with the abuse and cruelty that occurred elsewhere during the same century. The likes of Colm O'Gorman, Michael O'Brien and Christine Buckley spoke openly and honestly of their personal tragedies to prevent a recurrence and to ensure we deal with the issue now. It is not just a question of the organisations apologising. Rather, the congregations should ask the 170,000 abused children for forgiveness. The way in which they have apologised is not realistic. As other Senators have said, this is not a question of money.

Initially in the 1990s, people were not believed that this was occurring, but we now know of the outrageous Kilkenny case, the Kelly Fitzgerald case in County Mayo, the McColgan case and a recently discovered case in County Roscommon. These situations were allowed to occur despite our priding ourselves on being a caring community. An underlying cruelty and abuse persists. Shame on the Department of Education and Science, the State, the medical profession, the Judiciary and others who allowed this situation. Children went to hospitals battered and bruised but people turned a blind eye. If anything is to come of the report, it is that we should own up and allow the 170,000 people and their families the opportunity of healing.

I heard a story recently of a lady in her 60s who could not stop crying. She reared a lovely family and she had a loving husband but she cried everyday. Her family could not understand what was wrong with her. She had never told anyone she had been in an orphanage where the children had been abused. She later visited the orphanage. The building was still there but the congregation had moved on. With the help of a good counsellor and her family's support, she was able to move on. This must be done for each of the 170,000 people in question. To move on and deal with their heartache and sorrow, they must be given space, love and compassion.