Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

There is a suggestion in the Ryan report that because perpetrators are not named, in addition to the indemnity the deal between the church and the State actually offered immunity and impunity to perpetrators being brought before the courts in respect of the terrible things they did. If there is to be a review of the programme for Government, it is important that neither Fianna Fáil nor the Green Party would wish to see perpetrators of appalling acts against children who were incarcerated in institutions being able to walk free with immunity or to have impunity in order that, as with war crimes in Nazi Germany and Rwanda, such perpetrators could walk free. It surely must be a critical issue for any review of the programme for Government that, with regard to acts carried out by religious orders, the perpetrators are not named in the report, although in some cases they are clearly identifiable and are probably still alive. Will it be a matter for the review of the programme for Government whether perpetrators will be subject to pursuit by the law or whether they will, in effect, get immunity from being taken before the courts in regard to acts they committed with impunity against children?

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