Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I welcome the delegation to the committee. I have not met the witnesses before. They have given a very harrowing account of their childhood and that of people of their generation who spent their childhood in institutions. It is a shameful chapter in Irish society which has come out in the open. People recognise and are conscious of that fact. The witnesses had a double difficulty because they suffered racial abuse as well as the other types of treatment that were meted out to orphan children.

I am concerned about at the level of racism today and I wonder what their experience is. Sometimes in my constituency I hear from parents with mixed-race children who say to me that their children have been abused in the street. There have been, from time to time, assaults on people of mixed race. I do not know if that is declining, but my own feeling is that it may be declining.

As I listened to the delegation I was reminded of something. I was a member of Dublin City Council in 1990 when the freedom of Dublin city was given to Nelson Mandela. It was also the year when the Irish football team did very well with a star player called Paul McGrath. People of mixed race in Ireland have excelled in sports, music, modelling and other careers. There is that side of things as well. I would like to know the following. Does the delegation, from their experience, feel they have more awareness of racism and that it is a despicable form of behaviour? Racism is mainly attributable to ignorance. Does the delegation think enough is being done to reduce racism and ensure that mixed-race Irish people are better integrated into Irish society?