Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I call on the Minister to reconsider what appears to be a decision not to transfer the workings of the commission from the Department of Education and Science to the Department of the Taoiseach. Will he implement as soon as possible not just the recommendations of Mr. Justice Ryan but also those of Ms Justice Laffoy which were ignored when she tried continuously to draw the attention of the Government to the problems encountered by her and the commission over a considerable time? Her recommendations were only heeded when she took the extreme step of resigning from the commission, knowing full well the implications of that action. It is appalling that it took that action to draw the attention of the supervising Minister to the fact that there were problems.

It is not enough to expect the resources of the Department of Education and Science to deal with this issue. The Government must assign specific resources to deal with this scandal adequately and properly.

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