Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In February the Taoiseach gave a heart-felt apology on behalf of the State to the survivors of the Magdalen laundries for the hurt done to them. He rightly told the women that they were blameless and I have no doubt he was moved by their life stories when he met them. For the women, that apology for the time they were incarcerated in a brutal regime overseen by the State was a turning point.

So too was the Government's announcement of a redress scheme. The Government's decision to make this redress scheme an ex gratia scheme and to ask the women to make no further claim against the State if they access the scheme was in marked contrast to the generous tone of the Taoiseach's apology. This issue of liability is clearly motivating the religious orders' refusal to make a financial contribution to the redress scheme. The issue of liability underpins the Government's own redress scheme and, for example, its refusal to deal with Bethany Home.

I respectfully say that the Government's record of failure to tackle the elites and to pursue institutions for wrongdoing is shocking and not good enough. The elites, whether in financial institutions or religious institutions, need to be made accountable to the will of the people. It is no accident that the women and girls were mostly poor. Then, as now, it is one law for the poor and one law for the rich. That is the harsh reality.

It is not good enough for the Government to express disappointment and to hope these institutions do the right thing. What does the Government intend to do to ensure the religious orders whose institutions benefited from the enslavement of girls and women in their commercial enterprises pay their fair share into the Magdalen laundries redress scheme?

See this speech in context