Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Institutional Child Abuse Bill 2009 and I commend the Labour Party on framing and introducing it under Private Members' time. The measures in the Bill are a logical and necessary follow-up to the Ryan report. The Bill addresses a range of outstanding issues that were crystallized by the Ryan report and that have been clearly articulated by the survivors of institutional child abuse before and after that publication. These measures are essential if justice is to be done for those cruelly wronged by the State and the Church.

All the recommendations of the Ryan report should be implemented, a matter on which the House is already agreed. The recommendations focus on alleviating the effects of abuse on those who suffered in the past and preventing abuse of children in care today and tomorrow. As I stated during the Dáil debate on the Ryan report, the Government must go further. It must address the need for truth and justice and recompense for those abused in institutions, residential, non-residential and those not covered by the Ryan Report and this Bill attempts to do so.

Justice must be done for former residents of Finglas children's centre, Scoil Ard Mhuire in Lusk, Trinity House, Trudder House and Madonna House. I also include the Magdalen laundries and institutions established after 1970. In the case of Trudder House, where many Traveller children were abused, there was one successful criminal prosecution. In the case of Madonna House, there was one prosecution and an inadequate investigation but no proper support for the victims. No survivor or victim should be left behind or left out in the cold as Marie Therese O'Loughlin was for many months outside the gates of this institution, Leinster House, on Kildare Street.

We should also acknowledge that abuse in institutions run by religious bodies was not confined to the Catholic Church. Derek Leinster has highlighted the abuses he and others suffered in Bethany House, Rathgar, which was run by the Church of Ireland. As I mentioned during the Ryan report debate, a former civil servant, Loretta Byrne, who worked in the then Department of Education tried to blow the whistle on abuse in the Finglas children's centre but was ignored. She stated that she brought these concerns to the attention of at least three prominent Members but nothing effective was done. I understand we know the identity of these three prominent Members. These are very serious allegations that need to be rigorously investigated.

I welcome especially section 1(f) which would lift the gagging clause contained in the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002. This attempts to prevent those whose cases have been before the redress board from speaking publicly about their experiences. It is deeply ironic that legislation supposed to aid the survivors and make recompense to them should prevent them from speaking out. For these survivors telling their story is a very important part of recovery. For some this may involve writing accounts of their experience, creative writing, film documentaries or other creative work. The attempt to gag these survivors should be abandoned now and the offending section should be deleted as proposed in the Bill. I hope in the Minister's contribution this evening he will provide confirmation of the Government's acceptance of that and all the component parts in the legislation on Second Stage before the House. The stigma of criminalisation has followed many of the survivors throughout their lives. All trace of this stigma and all doubt in respect of the law must be removed and, therefore, the Government should also accept section 1(g) which wipes the slate clean and also prevents discrimination against people on the basis of having been in an institution. It should not apply in respect of the record of any of these people, whose harrowing experiences are enough without adding further insult to the injury already suffered.

Another major element of the Bill relates to the records of the redress board and the need for their preservation. This is very important and in line with the resolution adopted unanimously by the Dáil in response to the Ryan report. The Bill seeks to ensure that any amendments to the indemnity deal between the Government and the 18 religious orders are subject to approval by the Houses of the Oireachtas. This is essential given the very underhand crafting of the original indemnity deal.

It cannot be stressed strongly enough that children in the care of the State and children denied care because of State neglect continue to be at risk today. Everyone here should read the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children on 30 June last which heard from the Ombudsman for Children and from the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, expressed concern that hundreds of children continue to be at risk of abuse due to the lack of independent inspections of residential centres and hostels which house vulnerable young people. She pointed out that the majority of almost 130 separated children seeking asylum stay in private hostels not subject to independent monitoring. These children do not have access to an independent guardian and many separated children did not have regular access to a social worker directly allocated to them. The Government must address this as a matter of urgency.

From among that cadre of children some have disappeared and there is no knowledge or indication whatsoever of what became of them. There are still hundreds of children with intellectual disabilities in residential centres not subject to any standards or inspections. At the meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children on 30 June I raised the issue of the deaths of at least 20 children in care during the past decade, which is now the subject of an internal Health Service Executive inquiry. The Ombudsman for Children has called for a child death review mechanism which I fully support. I urge the Minister and the Government to accept this recommendation as a vital component in establishing the truth in respect of the death of any child in care in future.

The Government must also implement the first recommendation of the Monageer report and establish a 24-seven social work service. Nothing less is acceptable or safe. It must continue to be of concern to Members that this first recommendation was so dismissed by the Minister of State with responsibility for children on the publication of that report.

I urge the Government not to oppose the passage of the Second Stage of this Bill. I appeal to the Minister to allow it go forward to Committee Stage and let the Government debate it in detail with all the other representatives of this House. We at least owe that to the people in the Gallery this evening and the countless thousands, tens of thousands generationally, who have yet to have truth and justice established in their name.

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