Margaret Conlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to participate in this discussion and I commend Deputy Ruairí Quinn for tabling the Bill. I recognise the major effort he has made in preparing it and I agree with all speakers that our commitment to the victims, the victims' support groups and their families is unwavering on all sides of the House.

After the Ryan report was published we debated it in the House. The Government accepted the recommendations and promised to implement them. That was not a media stunt or a sound bite; it was acceptance and realisation that the victims were let down by the people. The ordinary people want and demand that this issue be treated with the gravity that it deserves. I welcome the Government's commitment to accept and fully implement the recommendations, and this must follow as a matter of priority.

The abuse of children in institutions happened because of failures of society but also because people in churches, schools and State institutions allowed things to happen unchecked. It was vitally important for victims that an apology was made by the former Taoiseach and that was reiterated by the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen. One can only imagine how difficult it is for any person to come forward and publically tell the story of his or her abuse. At the time of his apology, the former Taoiseach announced the establishment of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the establishment of a nationwide professional counselling service for the victims of childhood abuse and legal changes relating to taking cases involving abuse.

Since the publication of the Ryan report, the Minister of State with responsibility for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Barry Andrews, has been given the onerous responsibility of bringing an implementation plan to the Government by the end of this month. I am confident in his ability to do this. The Government will implement the recommendations which provide for a memorial, the availability of education and counselling services, the continued availability of family tracing services and a review of systems to avoid future failures. This cannot and must not be allowed to happen again. The Department of Education and Science initiated a working group which includes people from the Department and other relevant Departments to consider and progress all of these recommendations. This working group will contribute to the overall implementation plan being led by Deputy Barry Andrews.

To move to the religious orders, further substantial contributions are required from the congregations - full stop. This is non-negotiable and I wish the Taoiseach well in securing extra funding from the congregations. They must step up to the plate. Two meetings have been held and it is hoped that progress has been made and many issues will be discussed including the full disclosure of their assets.

We had a unified Dail approach when passing the cross-party motion. This side of the House must oppose this Bill because the issues raised have not been fully analysed and it is obvious that legal advice will need to be sought. However, nobody in the House wants to divide on the issue.

The Bill also proposes expanding the remit of the redress board but this is prior to the Government completing its discussions with the congregations. The Government is committed to the redress scheme in advance of settling contributions from the religious congregations and this is exactly what the Bill asks the Government to do. The Bill calls for an extension of the redress scheme to allow for late applications to be accepted. To date, the redress board has received 450 late applications since the closing date, with more than 50 of these being received in the period since the publication of the commission's report. The late applications were dealt with as follows: a total of 109 submissions were accepted by the board; a total of 177 submissions were disallowed by the board; a total of 12 applications were invalid; ten submissions were withdrawn; in 121 cases the board is awaiting further information from the applicant and 21 submissions remain to be considered by the board. Advertising prior to the closing date set by the current legislation was widespread. The redress board spent approximately €900,000 advertising the scheme on radio, television and in newspapers. The current Act makes provision for late applications in exceptional circumstances and this degree of flexibility is crucial.

In terms of the proposal to extend the age restriction to cover persons who were in institutions between the ages of 18 and 21, many Members will be aware that this matter is the subject of a Supreme Court appeal. We believe it appropriate that this appeal be heard and adjudicated on and we should not pre-empt the findings of the superior court in the land.

For far too long those people, many of whom hid in the shadows, were totally afraid to tell their story. In some cases they felt they would be isolated, shunned and not believed and some of them felt very guilty. It is wrong that victims of this type of abuse felt guilty. The victims must remain our central and key concern in everything we do in this House on this matter and the timing of the Bill does not reflect that.

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