Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will come to that in a moment. Bear with me. One thing is for sure, the Minister has not been listening to me, because he left the Chamber before I got up to speak.

While such a commission was signalled in the Minister's statement yesterday, we are concerned that his amendment to our motion does not state this in explicit terms. As he knows well, I have tried repeatedly over the past 36 hours to reach an agreement with him on the wording of the motion or counter motion that will be put before the Members this evening. The Minister's counter motion or amendment is flawed. It does not deliver the certainty the victims of these institutions deserve. It does not reflect the commitments he gave in his oral contribution yesterday or to which he referred in the past few moments. That is a concern for me and for others listening to this debate.

That said, as I have indicated to the Minister repeatedly, we do not want to divide the Dáil on this issue this evening. Therefore, on behalf of Sinn Féin, I am indicating to the Minister, in the spirit I believe is required as we go forward with these matters, that we will not oppose the Government amendment. Instead, we will work on the basis of trust, not only in what the Minister has committed to, but more especially in what the Taoiseach committed to here yesterday and what other voices, including the Minister's colleague tonight, committed to in the course of this debate. We believe that is the way to proceed.

That said, let it be noted clearly and carefully that we and all who truly want truth and justice for the victims and survivors of these hellish institutions will be watching and waiting and holding the Minister and the Government to their commitment to act as they have stated here repeatedly over the two days of these statements and debate. I believe we have collectively made progress this week towards finding the truth and I hope I will have no reason to revisit that view in the future. The former residents of these horrendous institutions, those still living and those who died in them or after leaving them deserve nothing less. Let us all ensure they are let down no more.

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