Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Yesterday, the Cabinet acted promptly to establish an independent inquiry into a broadcast by RTE and that is to be commended. The patient support and advocacy organisation, Dignity4Patients, has been campaigning for decades for an independent commission of inquiry into allegations about the sexual abuse of boys and young men in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. The Taoiseach supported this demand in Opposition, as did the Tánaiste. In July, the Minister for Health promised an inquiry and acknowledged that many people have suffered as a consequence of not having this issue aired in public. He told the Joint Committee on Health and Children that he had the agreement of the Attorney General that there would be an Oireachtas committee of inquiry following the referendum. The referendum was not passed but the need and demand for an inquiry remains.

I could also raise the issues of ministerial leaks about increases in prescription charges, the closure of nursing homes, cuts in child benefit and further attacks on what remains of our sovereignty by the bigger states in the EU. We will return to these issues. The need to hold an independent inquiry into the allegations of sexual abuse must be dealt with today with the same urgency the Taoiseach showed in dealing with RTE. How can anyone have faith in a Government that refuses to stand up for the citizens and fails to assure the public that the systemic failures in the health services have been corrected? Will the Taoiseach establish an independent commission of inquiry into these events, as promised in Opposition, and will he announce this before the Christmas recess?

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