Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Will the Taoiseach, perhaps with the Minister for Education and Science, call in the religious orders to discuss these matters? I note his comments regarding the imperative on the religious orders to make a bigger and better contribution. In recent days, I have heard and welcome the comments that have been made by leading figures in the Catholic Church, including Cardinal Brady, the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishop of Down and Connor. However, I also heard the highly trenchant response from the religious orders to the effect that they do not wish to make a bigger contribution. I hope the statement made by the Christian Brothers this evening constitutes a change from that position. However, the Taoiseach and possibly the Minister for Education and Science, as the deal was made through that Department, must meet the religious orders as quickly as possible to further matters and to secure an appropriate contribution from those orders to whatever fund is to be established.

I am delighted to hear from Deputy Woods on the issue. It is a pity that in 2002 he did not bring the indemnity deal before the House for approval. What he did was to bring before the House the Residential Institutions Redress Act Bill, which enjoyed cross-party support at that time as the appropriate way of dealing with this issue. However, the indemnity deal which apportioned the various liabilities and which capped the contribution of the religious orders was never brought before the House. Some mechanism should be devised in the House which would give Deputy Woods ample opportunity to say what he has to say about that deal, how it was concluded, who was and was not present and what advices were provided. If, arising from that, there is anything I must withdraw, Deputy Woods or anyone else will not have to ask me to do so. However, in the first instance, we need to hear an awful lot more about what went on in the summer of 2002.

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