Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

It is important that there is openness and transparency in regard to how people are selected. The Minister mentioned Daingean, Letterfrack, Artane and so on and I presume the reason for that is the large numbers. However, there is still the problem of who will be selected. Will it be a person who cannot deal with his or her anger, a person who has a drink problem or a person who does not have a drink problem? How will the selection be made? Somebody mentioned survivors. Some people do not see themselves as survivors but rather as victims. That debate is also going on within the process. Some people see themselves as moving on while others are still caught in that trap in which they were left after coming out of these institutions. There will have to be transparency and some type of criteria but I do not know how one can arrive at that criteria. Certainly, there is a need for some mechanism where a person can tell his or her story or be told why he or she is not being given that opportunity. The mechanism as it is designed will not fulfil that need. There are many people out there who want to tell their story, but we are coming to the point where only some will be able to tell their story.

Some people who went through these institutions said they were fulfilled and that they did not see any of the problems going on around them. I presume they will be part of the sample selected. How will it rest with those who were abused when another person says it never happened?

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