Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

This issue is essentially about power. People were put into institutions in positions of total powerlessness when things were done to them over which they had no control. Essentially we are trying leave as much power as possible with them in their dealings with the commission. In effect what is happening, if none of these amendments are accepted, is that they will not have the power and will not know why they are not being selected and will have no way of ensuring their story is told. If there are criteria as proposed in some of the amendments at least they will know the criteria and will be able to assess whether their story has a relevance to some of the criteria and they will be able to argue their case. At least this restores some of the power. Ideally, everybody should be able to tell his or her full story.

If we accept there has to be a certain amount of cutting back in the interests of allowing the process to go through in a reasonable timeframe, at least we should give as much power as possible to the survivors. In her response the Minister constantly speaks about what the commission is trying to achieve from the point of view of the commission and Mr. Justice Ryan whereas there is a need for a balance of power between the commission and those coming before it.

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