Beverley Flynn (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I also welcome the opportunity to speak on the Labour Party Bill. A number of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak after the publication of the Ryan report. That is the most difficult report I have had to speak on in my 12 years in this House. We have had to confront a very difficult situation. For many years, we have been aware that abuse happened in institutions but to be confronted with the reality of five volumes and the horror stories they contained was a very black experience for anyone in public life and for the entire country. There is not a man, woman or child in Ireland who was not deeply affected by that report. That is certainly the feeling of everyone on this side of the House.

Since the Ryan report was published and debated in the House, the Government has accepted its 20 recommendations and pledged its commitment to implement them. That was not a hollow gesture but something tangible and solid. People are desperate to see that something is being done and that the issue is being treated with the seriousness it deserves. I welcome the Government's commitment to accept and implement all 20 recommendations as a matter of priority.

I also welcome the Government's admission that abuse of children occurred because of failures of systems, policy, management and administration and of senior personnel. It is important for victims that this admission has been made. In recent weeks, I have met victims of institutional abuse and listened to their stories. The story of abuse is a difficult one to tell to a stranger. It is not easy for someone like myself, who had such a happy upbringing, to listen to the horrors experienced by victims of abuse. It is extremely difficult to listen to the story and a thousand times more difficult to tell it.

The Labour Party Bill is well intentioned and I agree with many of the measures it contains. I hope something meaningful and long-lasting will result from this chapter in our history. The Government has entrusted Deputy Barry Andrews with the task of developing a plan for the implementation of the recommendations of the report. That plan is to be brought to Government by July and it is important that it be done quickly.

When I speak to victims of abuse, I am impressed by their desire to tell their story and to be believed and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. The Minister for Education and Science has said he will give further consideration to the relaxation of the confidentiality clause. I would like to see him go further than that. It is important for victims, not merely to name the institution in which they were abused but to tell their stories in the fullest possible way. It is part of the healing process to tell one's story truly, openly and transparently and that the story is believed. This is a central theme. I ask the Minister to consider this measure carefully and look closely at accepting it.

I cannot understand why the Ryan commission records cannot be retained. The Minister has also undertaken to consider this matter further. I am heartened by the Government's response that an Assistant Garda Commissioner has been charged with examining the Ryan report and that the Garda Síochána and the DPP will have the Government's fullest co-operation in pursuing any criminal investigation which may arise. No Member of this House wants to see any person who carried out these horrendous crimes being protected in any way. It is not in our interests, those of the victims or those of the Irish people. The people's tolerance is at such a point that they want the persons in question exposed, brought before the courts and convicted. Everything we can do to make this a reality must be done.

Waiving the legal privilege over the details of the 2002 indemnity report has been discussed heavily in the House. I favour the details being revealed, as it is an important matter. We are discussing the contribution of the religious orders and a bill for the State of €1 billion. When one is discussing spending taxpayers' money and-----

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