Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The first big problem is value for money. From what I have heard from people who have been through the system, and I have had that privilege in a different life as well, the big problem is that I know when the figure - €1.2 billion or €1.5 billion - is mentioned, it seems as if the survivors are getting it. I have mentioned this already and I am going back to it. That is not the case at all. It is my experience on the ground that a minute part of their story is being told. Mr. Ó Foghlú has acknowledged the abuse was systemic. The State was integral to the extent of that abuse. It has taken a very long time for the State to admit that. Is that not right? The apology was in 1999.