Ms Catriona Crowe:

Women stopped being written out of history around 1985, when Dr. Margaret Ward wroteUnmanageable Revolutionaries, so it is time we took cognisance of that. They have been written into history in a major way since. Women made statements to the Bureau of Military History and applied for pensions under the Military Service Pensions Acts, which the Deputy spoke of. The people who made submissions or applications to both those bodies, which are effectively the oral history of our revolutionary period and unique in Europe, became the leaders of this country after the revolutionary period in various ways. It is very valuable material and all of it is in the public domain and there is no problem. The sky has not fallen on our heads. These people became Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Deputies and Senators, with a few exceptions. This is, in effect, a record of people who became quite powerful after suffering a great deal during the period of the revolution.

What has happened to our eloquent survivors and their sisters and brothers is of a scale, significance and importance of equal level to what happened in the revolutionary period. It took place over a much longer period and it was hidden for a huge period. As Ms McDonnell Byrne has said, it carried a burden of shame that should have been on the other side but it does not seem to have made itself felt, which is strange. I have not heard a single person from the State or religious orders say they felt ashamed, which is strange.

We are talking about a gigantic archive of abuse, mistreatment, psychological deprivation and a lack of shame on behalf of those who should have been giving care and compassion to vulnerable children. It is a mind-blowingly important archive that this country badly needs to understand and learn from. First and foremost, the survivors must be placed at the centre and made cognisant of their own records. They must be given whatever they want.

None of this is undoable. We are here discussing an unnecessary piece of legislation that will waste much time. I hope that, ultimately, that legislation will not be passed. All of the people speaking before the committee today have stated that they do not want or need this. There are ways to get this done and there are people sitting before the committee who would willingly give their time and expertise to help manage this process in order to give survivors, scholarship and the public what they need at whatever time that is necessary.