Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I support amendment No. 26. People are already telling their stories regardless of whether they are prohibited from doing so by the Act. Many stories have appeared in the media. A man was on hunger strike outside this building because he rightly felt that what was happening to him was unfair. There were also many other cases. We were told that the awards would be compatible with High Court awards but that is clearly not the case. There is a great disparity between what people are getting from the redress board and what they would get from the High Court. People are advised by lawyers to go down this route and then there is nothing they can do. They cannot appeal the amount awarded.

The amendment deals with the reality of what is happening. People are talking about their experiences of what they went through. It would be to the benefit of the process that they would be allowed to do so. It is part of the healing process. If people get a rough time appearing before the board or if they feel they were not listened to, they should be allowed to say that in public. Why should there be a veil of secrecy?

There does not appear to be any compatibility between the awards given by the board and what the High Court would award. A number of individuals have revealed to me the amounts they were offered. They were paltry when one considers what these people went through. I do not know what criteria the judge laid down for this. It would be important for people to be able to talk about the institution concerned.

The Minister referred to sampling from such places as Letterfrack, Artane and Daingean. People who were in those institutions are concerned that these are places where serious abuse took place. Allegations of serious institutional abuse in these places range from rape to possible murder. People were seriously damaged in these larger institutions. It is important that people would be allowed to speak about their experiences. The amendment is a positive one.

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