Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. I accept that Mr. Justice Quirke is a very good person to head up this but he will be bound by his terms of reference and will not be able to act outside them, so all of the questions I have raised are very pertinent and, indeed, some of them have been raised by advocacy groups for the Magdalen women. We need to ensure no one is unjustly excluded from compensation.

A number of us brought in the women sufferers of symphysiotomy and we gave them a standing ovation. Until last night, that was the best occasion I spent in this Dáil. The symphysiotomy sufferers are still waiting for justice. The survivors of the Bethany Home were failed by the State but are not part of this scheme. Will the Government take up their cases as a matter of urgency? The Taoiseach did not answer the question on Summerhill.

I trust that we will have the opportunity to tease out the detail of the terms of reference. The terms of reference refer to "women who are now resident in Britain" but do not say anything about women who are resident in the United States of America and elsewhere. I welcome the Tánaiste's remarks on the question of whether the religious orders will be asked to contribute to compensating the women. This is an attempt to get prompt, transparent delivery on what the Taoiseach said yesterday evening. I stress that this is a non-party political issue. The questions I ask are very valid and we need answers to them.

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