Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and thank him for joining us today. We have a huge body of work to get through. The Department and the committee has a huge and diverse range of issues in our work programme. I welcome what the Minister has said about the childcare sector. It is a huge priority. As someone who did not get to work because of a lack of childcare when my children were younger it is a very important issue and it hits most families in the country.

I reiterate what Senator Ruane said about socioeconomic discrimination being added to the list. It is very important that we do not rush but make it a priority. It is very clear that socioeconomic discrimination is happening and it is a very sad indictment of modern Ireland that the incidence continues to rise.

What are the timelines for all of the strategies the Minister mentioned in his speech, including women and girls, the Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy, the migrant integration strategy and the LGBTI inclusion strategy?

I have a few questions on the mother and baby homes. I want a guarantee from the Minister that all groups, big and small, and individuals, will all be included in this and that it will not just be those who have the most access to meet him but that he will reach out and make a public call to women who are not part of a group and who want to have a say on their history and life and on how the legislation will impact them. I have had discussions with many survivors' groups and they are afraid of the balance of rights. They are concerned that the rights of adoptees and mothers might be conflicted or jeopardised. I want a guarantee from the Minister that we have-----

Has the Minister gone? I have frightened him.