Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before the Minister responds, I want to make one or two brief comments. The mother and baby home legislation has dominated this discussion. The committee debated the matter earlier. Everybody here is anxious to be a part of the solution and to ensure that survivors' voices are heard. We are a little confused because various people have referred to the committee and the work we are going to do but we have not been given a specific timeline or information from the Department about what is expected of us. As I say, we want to be a part of the solution and to ensure that survivors' voices are heard and put at the heart of everything. We ask the Minister and Department to come back to us with a written timeline setting out when the report will be published, how the Minister envisages consultation with survivors, their representative groups and families, and what will be the specific role asked of this committee. We want very much to be involved but we must know in which parts we are to be involved. As the Minister knows, this is a very wide topic. We obviously need to wait for the report to be published but we are anxious to have a written document from the Minister and the Department setting out the specific requests of this committee so that we can engage properly with the survivors, the Minister and the Department.

I have a question about the Tuam burials which have been touched on by a number of speakers. Is there a possibility of extending that to look at other sites where there might also have been burials? Will that specifically relate to Tuam? That might be something for pre-legislative scrutiny but I put that point to the Minister nonetheless.

Deputy Whitmore touched on the point I wished to make about the council and the supports and additional resources to be made available.

The Minister may now make some concluding remarks.