Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for their presentation. As Deputy McConalogue said, there is an element of changing the goalposts for both alleged abusers and, in particular, survivors who would have entered into a process in good faith and, with a certain knowledge of the legislation, been assured that their identities would be preserved. Any legislation which attempts to balance rights is difficult because somebody's rights are bound to be chipped away in some respects. There is a necessity to preserve these records, not for posterity but to ensure this never happens again. Human nature has collective amnesia and intergenerational amnesia is quite prevalent. Society is inclined to forget things.

That is why we should preserve the records. However, we are lighting a 75 year fuse here that could explode in a different context and society. Take the example of the 1911 census records. If one trawls through those records, one can identify people who were described as lunatics and one might know their grandsons, grand-daughters or relations. The term was quite acceptable at that time but it is now unacceptable. It is just a description, and it is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the sensitivity of these files. How do we, in 2015, protect something, even in the language, that could be opened in 2080? It is not the identity of the people who will be deceased, but there is a bigger consideration in terms of their families. This is still a small country. It is based on townlands, the parish, the street and the neighbourhood, so we must be very mindful of the dangers of this legislation.