Dáil debates

Tuesday, 24 October 2006

4:00 pm

Photo of Bertie AhernBertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Some 14,000 of our citizens were abused in one form or another in State-run institutions. The Deputy cannot say they should be given their due entitlement but that we should not have done it this way. There was no other way but to apologise, which we did, set up a redress system, which we did, and put in a system which would give them fair recompense for what happened to them. That was a fair thing to do. Deputy Rabbitte's view, which I respect, is that the Irish Catholic Church should have paid the money. My view was that it did not have the money and we owed it to these people to pay them back. That was the judgment we made; it was made in a full and open Cabinet decision and I make no apologies for it.

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