Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I share the passion of committee members for bringing about a resolution of these issues. I want to work with them and was very happy to come in today to engage with them on these issues. I have engaged a lot in the Dáil and I will take a third Seanad debate later this week as well as private sessions with this committee. I have no problem with any of that. I am glad to do it because it is important that we get into the detail of these issues. I hope that what is different between now and previous times is that we have this very comprehensive action plan that sets out not just one issue. From my engagement with survivors, it involves the range of needs they have. Survivors have different priorities. For some, that information and tracing legislation is core while for others, it is about getting an enhanced medical card or making sure the stories are reflected in the secondary school curriculum. The action plan is comprehensive. I said earlier that the commission's report is not a conclusion. The action plan is not a conclusion either. It is something that we can develop it if we see there are elements that are not fully addressed.

Deputy Crowe referred to supports from local authorities. We reference local authorities in terms of engagement. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, felt very strongly that support for survivors with housing issues was something local authorities could focus on because she identified that a large part of the community might have needs in that area. It is a plan that can be flexible to respond to the specific needs of survivors, which is important.

I will discuss some issues noted by Deputy Crowe. Both he and Deputy Sherlock flagged the importance of the apologies by local authorities. This is very significant because, like Deputy Crowe, before I read this report, I was not aware of certain issues. I understood that county homes were linked to local authorities but I did not understand how mother and baby homes were linked to local authorities. Most of us come that route and have a very nice understanding of what our local authorities do. They were so intrinsically linked to what was happening in these institutions so those apologies from Cork, Galway and other local authorities are very appropriate. We are happy to engage with local authorities, which can step up themselves. We know where these institutions were and we know the involvement so local authorities are very capable of setting a standard within their own areas.

We have a very comprehensive range of actions to take. The timelines are tight, particularly with the information and tracing Bill. We will look to bring it before the committee for pre-legislative scrutiny by April. We have the institutional burials Bill as well but we have other non-legislative elements such as the work of the interdepartmental group on the restorative recognition scheme. When I met with the group at the commencement of its work, I made two things very clear. I wanted a human rights-based approach to its work and I wanted it to learn from the mistakes of earlier redress schemes. I spoke with staff from the Christine Buckley Centre for Education and Support. Senator McGreehan had asked me to reach out to them. The centre put a very human face on the failings of previous redress schemes, which is something I want to be very aware of to make sure that even in the terms of redress, we do not end up retraumatising survivors. I look forward to working with this committee to address these issues.