Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When this Bill was first brought forward, the test the Department needed to pass was whether it was good enough. As it currently stands, I do not think that it is. Section 4(1) includes the wording "whom it is satisfied are former residents". One of the strongest recommendations from pre-legislative scrutiny was that all survivors, irrespective of whether they had already received an award assessment either through the redress board or the court should be considered eligible for this. The Department needs to outline why that was ignored. Without that being included, the Bill is exclusionary. It lacks equal access and fairness, particularly when we consider that the RIRB scheme was limited to 139 institutions. This exclusion compounds further the distress and trauma which survivors put to the committee during our engagement with them. It was not just the survivors here who said that. I draw the Minister's attention to the 2017 Reclaiming Self submission to the UN Committee against Torture as a follow-up to the Ryan report, which outlined in detail the same opinion that this test had not been reached.

Another part of Part 2 points to dental, ophthalmic, aural and counselling services being available. However, there is a lack of psychiatry and a lack of psychology. Survivors have been saying very clearly that they see a substantial need for those services.

In the Minister's opening statement, she referred to the enhanced medical card as a medical card for life. I wish to read into the record a comment that was put to me by somebody who already holds one of these enhanced medical cards.