Ms Mary Lou O'Kennedy:

With regard to the three things survivors would want to see, I will have to go back to what they have expressed. The overriding issue is the use of the duration of stay of children as a criterion for the medical card. Many of the medical issues that arose for women happened at the point of birth. As has been explained to us today, the impact on children starts prior to birth. This is the primary issue. The survivors also expressed the harm that would be done if different groups were identified groups over others. This would be divisive to their community. They took great solidarity from being together in the consultations. Solidarity among the survivor community is very important to them. This is another reason the six-month cut-off is very problematic. It is divisive and could be damaging in this way.

Trauma-informed counselling is another issue. It was referred to again and again as one of the overriding needs that survivors requested. The HSE counselling service was not designed to work with trauma at this level. The focus on having trauma-trained staff and an informed process in the administration was deemed to be equally as important in this respect.

The other item I would speak about is providing emotional support and administrative support to applicants by way of a personal advocate or personal case worker. Many of the survivors have simply expressed a need for this type of assistance in going through the bureaucratic application process. Although it will be simple, nonetheless they need emotional supports.