Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

Seeing so many people on the streets of Dublin a few days ago and reading this report of endemic rape and abuse of Irish children in Catholic care has left most Members of this House numb and cold, and with a sense of shame. The nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns terrorised thousands of boys and girls in the Irish Republic for decades while Government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rape and humiliation.

The Ryan report unveils 2,600 pages of fine reporting by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. It draws on testimonies from thousands of former inmates and officials from more than 250 institutions run by the State or the church. More than 30,000 children passed through these schools. They were deemed to be petty thieves and truants, or from dysfunctional families - a category that often included unmarried mothers. They were sent to the industrial schools, reformatories and orphanages from the 1930s until the last facilities closed in 1999.

My mother's uncle was a Christian Brother. Many years ago when my brother became 12 or 13 years of age, it was considered that it might be ideal for this young man to go to Dublin to the school where this Brother taught. In a coded word to my mother, the Brother said, "Your son may not be safe in this school." All along, we felt the meaning to have been that he would not have been safe from the other pupils. Little did we know that the Christian Brother was saying he would not be safe from the teachers and his associates.

This country has grown up and woken up for the first time since the foundation of the State. As a country, we always aspired to a united Ireland but failed to unite our people. We blame Britain for most of our ills but for this we can only blame ourselves. The founding principles of the Irish Republic, as mentioned in the House several times, was to cherish the children of the nation equally. This country has never been equal, not since the foundation of the State. In the church people sat up at the front, in the middle or at the back. There was a hierarchy in this country. We had deference towards the church but also towards intellectuals, doctors and solicitors. Often we heard it said: "God, he is a complete alcoholic and a boor but he's a great doctor." We needed to grow up.

Over the years we had the Irish solution to divorce, namely, the husband living in the UK. We exported all our difficulties to the UK and Australia. On the record, I wish to thank the people and the Governments of the UK for treating equally the Irish people who went there to work. We failed to do that in this country.

It was said that times were harsher and poorer but what happened was unacceptable. It was out of sight and out of mind. Society was at fault, as were our Governments over the years. We must question the whereabouts of State assets that were misappropriated over the years by institutions. People were obviously on the take. Children were put into care and financial assistance was claimed from the State for their welfare. The commission interviewed 1,000 people, mainly aged between 50 and 70. I pay tribute to their courage and to the several hundred who travelled back to Ireland, from the US, England and Australia, to describe their childhoods of terror and intimidation. They are angry and bitter and feel cheated and deceived.

The church must live up to its obligations. The contrition expressed by the 18 congregations is too little and too late. No sum of money can ever adequately compensate for what was done. The church has moved on in recent years and much good work has been done. I would like to believe that what has happened will not affect the liberalisation of a Catholic church which for too long had too much influence in the matters of the State. We must listen to the victims and act.

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