Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I thank Deputy Quinn for tabling the Institutional Child Abuse Bill 2009. Some weeks ago in the House we were appalled by the contributions detailing the contents of the Ryan report including the appalling treatment of vulnerable children put in the care of the State and religious orders. Deputy Quinn's Bill proposes to move on the debate. The issue must not rest here and we must ensure the debate moves forward. There is unfinished business in respect of the State to which Deputy Upton referred. Inspectors in the Department of Education and Science and personnel in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform are implicated and files went missing. There is also unfinished business regarding the religious orders, which only paid a fraction of the State's contribution in compensation. It is appropriate that there should be a full assessment of their assets and their ability to pay. The terms of their future contribution must also be dealt with. The Labour Party Bill concerns outstanding issues, what took place and how to move on the business at hand.

A major bone of contention has been the exclusion of many victims of child abuse from the terms of the redress Act. Many people have approached Members concerning their exclusion. When the legislation was passed in 2002 I was a Member of the Seanad. I recall calling for the inclusion of the Morning Star mother and baby home, the Regina Coeli hostel and Bethany House to the Schedule. I was assured by the Minister of the day that while they did not appear in the initial Schedule of homes, they would appear in a revised Schedule. However that never happened and people have been excluded despite a degree of regulation and inspection exercised by the relevant authorities for these homes.

I refer to those living abroad. Of the tens of thousands of young people who emerged from the industrial schools and reformatories a significant percentage had to go abroad to far flung parts of the world. This raises a serious issue of the timeframe and the ability of such people to submit an application before the expiry of the redress board deadline. That matter is addressed in this legislation.

As Deputy McManus stated it is unacceptable to place a gagging order on anyone who has appeared before the redress board. They should not be prohibited from retelling or relating the events which caused such grief and destroyed their childhood. That is the worst form of censorship of young children who are now adults and the Bill addresses this matter as well.

The destruction of records is outrageous. Why should any record which formed part of the testimony before the redress board be destroyed? Records should be retained at all cost and stored as a valuable historical account of what took place at a time when instead of cherishing the children of the nation, those in charge and who had these children in their care, preyed upon them. The Bill would ensure the slate is wiped clean for anyone with a criminal record who was detained in reformatories or industrial schools. This measure is essential and the Bill makes provision for it.

The Government should accept this legislation. Today, the Taoiseach indicated he would not accept it and I am unsure if the Government has changed its opinion since this morning but it should do so and it should allow all sides of the House to table amendments if required.

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