Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I sincerely thank our witnesses for appearing before us today. I recently had the opportunity to meet some of the members of the collaborative forum, namely, Ms Larkin and her mother and others. I welcome them today. Certainly, during my discussions with them, I got an in-depth consideration of the issues at stake from the perspective of victims and survivors with families who are searching for due process to locate loved ones.

The importance of this proposed Bill is such that it receives comprehensive parliamentary scrutiny by the committee. I commend my colleagues, who are committed and united in fulfilling their duties to support the victims and survivors of mother and baby homes and their families in seeking truth and justice. We look forward to engaging with them today and with other groups in future to ensure that we do our job to the best of our ability and provide them with hope of closure within their lifetime. That is hugely important.

Today, I want to hear from all the witnesses in terms of their submissions. I very much welcome them. My question is very open and generic in nature. Regarding the concerns of witnesses on the aspects of the Bill they feel need to be addressed, what basic changes would they like to see to this legislation to satisfy family members and survivors in respect of our international human rights obligation? Each of the witnesses might give us some feedback in that regard.