Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I do not know any of the individuals involved in this process so I do not have a biased view. However, I support the amendments. This is all about people wanting to tell their story. The question is why are they not being given that opportunity. People talked about a selection process or sampling, but who will say to those people who have been through that trauma, who have been denied their childhood and who suffered abuse that their story of being badly beaten or of being sexually abused has already been heard from ten women or five men? It raises all sorts of questions about whether we are serious about this process if we do not give these people an opportunity to tell their story. Who will decide what is and is not relevant? Will it be the judge and the commission? That is a huge responsibility. I would not recommend going down that road.

These people who experienced abuse should be allowed to tell their story. I spoke to some people who went down the private route. One woman sat in a room with her husband and told her story while notes were taken. She came out of that room more frustrated and wanted to tell everyone her story. She is looking for an opportunity to go back and tell the world and its mother what happened to her when she was a child. She is wondering whether she is excluded from this process.

People want to tell their story but because of timescales, money or whatever reason, they will possibly not get that opportunity, and that is wrong. We set up this process, people were led to believe they would have the opportunity to tell their stories and that all that happened would be uncovered, but now the process is being closed down. I am not the only one saying that but that is how this appears to many people. The Minister may say that none of the survivor groups said this to her but I have talked to individuals involved. I have not talked to the larger groups. People have come to me for whatever reason and they have told me their stories. They want someone from officialdom to listen to what they went through during their childhood. With the way the system is designed, they will not get that opportunity.

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