Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Mr. Justice Murphy sets out the position since 1962 so I will not go back over that. We must recognise that progress has been made in many areas. The gardaí in the diocese, as per this report, have rightly prosecuted child abusers since 1990 and their omissions of the past have been corrected. Mr. Justice Murphy also emphasised the independence and integrity of the Garda Síochána over that period of 15 years. That is a considerable period of time, notwithstanding what was done by one senior member of the force in the past, which obviously nobody would stand over.

The health board has shown a willingness and a determination to investigate. As the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, has pointed out, the whole issue now is to promote and foster a climate and culture of reporting child abuse in our society to achieve maximum disclosure. There are legislative areas that require more work and we will do that work.

Deputy Sargent mentioned protocols and the protocols in every area should be examined, based on this report. Many of the recommendations would be very helpful in updating such protocols and based on this experience, it is important that this is done. From the Government's point of view, while we have a number of Acts in place, Mr. Justice Murphy has pointed to two Acts in particular that should be dealt with and we have agreed that we will deal with them.

We are examining how we can conduct an audit or analyse cases around the country where perhaps there have been prosecutions previously to try to make things right for the future. By building on the 1996 framework document and this report, we will try to make things better.

The good thing to come out of this — terrible though it is — is that we have a good basis for action. Hopefully, we will see co-operation from the churches, though obviously we must be satisfied ourselves and not leave matters to them. We must be satisfied that we have the powers to act, but we also need the co-operation of the churches and other areas of society so that we can take the experience of this, and other reports over the last ten or 12 years, to make sure we are seeing a change. This report seems to indicate that we have seen a substantial change in recent years, both in Ferns and elsewhere. It is now up to us to make sure that this remains the case and that change happens in the rest of the country.

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