Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First, for the record, the Taoiseach said earlier that he was looking forward to the publication by the First and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland of a discussion paper on tackling sectarianism. That has already been published. It was published last week.

I wish to raise two issues with the Taoiseach. The first concerns Bethany Home. There is a huge amount of evidence in the public domain, some of which, I understand, was broadcast on RTE last night, proving State involvement in the Bethany Home. The previous Government excluded the very small number of remaining survivors from the residential institutions redress scheme and, for reasons beyond me, this Government has also ruled out extending the Magdalen laundries redress mechanism to Bethany Home survivors. We have raised this matter consistently with the Taoiseach and he has always said the Minister for Justice and Equality is considering the matter. I ask the Taoiseach to indicate what progress has been made following lengthy consideration of the Bethany Home issue, and to set out the form of redress it is proposed to afford to its victims.

Leaders of the Opposition have expressed very genuine frustration at how we conduct our business here. The Taoiseach has shown some sympathy towards that in responding to us and has said he will bring forward proposals to deal with our business in a better way. Can the Taoiseach tell us when he will bring forward those proposals and whether those proposals will form the basis for a discussion? This is a parliament, so rather than the Government deciding what to do and then consulting or notifying us, can we actually have a discussion paper so that we can have a constructive and positive input into this?

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