Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Deputy Quinn is right. There is no reason for the House to abdicate its role to the Supreme Court in this regard or for the Government to spend more taxpayers' money defending an issue that does not deserve defending.

In the context of extra money being provided by religious organisations towards the overall compensation sum payable by the redress board, the Minister referred to discussions that have been held. The Government is engaging in secret ongoing discussions with the religious congregations that, to date, have failed to give any meaningful commitment to contribute extra money to the redress fund and have only publicly committed themselves to making an unspecified contribution towards some form of trust fund to be established for the benefit of victims of abuse. Fine Gael supports the establishment of the trust fund, but the congregations should contribute 50% of the redress funds being paid out. It is of serious concern and contrary to the public interest that no definitive timeframe has been set for these matters to be resolved. The congregations have given no firm commitment.

It is vital that there be published a full credible audit of the property ownerships of the congregations so that the Government and the general public can assess their capacity to make the contribution required to meet their moral obligations to the victims of abuse. The Minister stated that the information produced by the religious orders will be reviewed by three people, but we need to know more than this. Who are the three people, how will they review the information, will the review be published, how will they assess the credibility of the orders' statements about their property ownerships and will the audit of ownerships extend to extensive properties owned outside the State? All of these matters need greater clarification than we have had to date.

I called on the Government to conduct an inquiry into institutions where it was alleged children were the victims of either physical or sexual abuse and that have not been investigated by the Ryan commission. These include St. Laurence's in Finglas, Trudder House, Trinity House, Scoil Ard Mhuire in Lusk and Madonna House. Former residents of these institutions have the same rights and entitlements as those of institutions investigated by the Ryan commission. These are issues that the Government should address, but is failing to.

There is no indication that the Government has learned from the report the essential need for accountability and transparency in our child protection services. Despite previous promises made in the Dáil, portions of the report on the Monageer tragedy published almost two months ago remain censored and seven of its recommendations made to improve child protection and family services remain a mystery. These recommendations have only been read by Ministers and Professor Drumm who, incredibly, cannot communicate the exact recommendations to those involved in the provision of such services. Even more incredibly, Deputies have no knowledge of the seven recommendations and cannot, therefore, hold the Government or the HSE to account for their implementation. So much for the Government taking the Ryan commission's message of the need for transparency and accountability.

It is widely known that there are three internal HSE reports on the deaths of three children in recent years in the care of health boards or the HSE, namely, Kim Donovan aged 15 years, Tracy Fay aged 18 years and David Foley aged 17 years. The Minister for Health and Children and the HSE continue to suppress these reports and are conducting themselves in a manner only seen in totalitarian dictatorships where governments have no accountability to a properly elected parliament. It is scandalous that, as a Member of the Dáil and Fine Gael's spokesperson on children, I have found it impossible to gain access to any of the reports detailing what happened to these children for whom the State had responsibility.

I have been seeking information from the HSE on 20 children in the care of the State who have lost their lives in the past decade. Four months after raising the issue by way of a Dáil question, all I have managed to learn comes from a report in The Irish Times, which states that the HSE has set up some internal review group to examine what occurred, identify key issues common to the children's deaths and make recommendations to the HSE's national director. I understand that, of the 20 deaths, key questions relate to the deaths of 11 children who died as a result of drug overdoses, assaults or suicide. What is now needed is not an internal review group, but an independent inquiry into the deaths of children in care.

Have no lessons been learned from the Ryan commission report? Why do the Government, the State and the HSE continue to conduct themselves in the manner of years gone by, which is to suppress information and bring no light to bear on the inadequacies of our child care systems? In no other EU democracy would there be such continuing and obsessive secrecy relating to the deaths of children for whom the state has responsibility, nor would there be a failure of government to account to parliament for what occurred. It is absolutely clear that neither the Government nor the HSE, despite all the verbiage and apologies, has yet truly learned the lessons from the Ryan commission's report. A radical change of attitude and approach, and new insight, are badly required.

In light of the Government's conduct in recent weeks, Fine Gael is concerned that it will not deal properly with matters arising from the report. We support the principles of the Labour Party's Bill and believe each issue contained therein deserves to be addressed properly. The Government should support the Bill's provisions.

The Minister spoke tonight about politicising the issue. This is a parliamentary Assembly, the purpose of which is to introduce legislation to address injustice and issues that require to be addressed. It is the Government that, this evening, is politicising a Bill that should not be politicised.

It is obvious from the Minister's speech that there is a broad range of issues he says need to be examined. He is not rejecting what is proposed in the Bill. Most of the issues derive from the all-party motion passed in this House and all the Bill aims to do is give substantive legislative form to them. If the Government does not want to play politics with all the resources available to it, it should show some decency, humility and insight. Tomorrow evening it should not divide the House but accept the principles of the Bill and allow, in the context of whatever work the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, and the Minister of State, Deputy Andrews, are doing, for its consideration on Committee Stage next September. This would allow for the consideration of the conclusions the Government reaches at the end of July. It would also allow for the badly needed reforms, required to benefit the survivors of institutional abuse, to be put on the Statute Book sooner rather than later, that is, by the autumn. Consequently, those who should acquire rights under the legislation will be afforded the opportunity to do so. By agreeing to the Bill, we will not find ourselves in a legislative morass whereby, this time next year, the Government will have failed to publish legislation promised this July, thereby requiring the survivors of institutional abuse to wait for justice yet again.

See this speech in context