Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept what the Minister says. In fairness to her, she did not prepare the report. She did not complain about it being unfair. She is relying on legal advice from the Attorney General, based on legal advice from another legal firm. I fully accept her bona fides in this regard. I understand she is defending work that she did not carry out. I accept that HIQA will consistently review the operation of the facilities and we will always look to make improvements. The focus of every member here is to ensure that the children are looked after and cared for and that the infringements on human rights that we have witnessed never happen again.

We have a specific report that was commissioned on the back of a UN committee identifying serious breaches, including 3,000 incidences of single separation in one year, which is an incredibly large number. What is the purpose of the report if we do not get to read it? If it was done in such a poor way as has been alleged by some and if fair procedures were not followed, do we need to conduct that review again following the fair procedures that are necessary in order to facilitate publication so that we can then read and assess it? Otherwise I am not sure why it was done in the first place.