James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is quite right: this is urgent and yet it is a major undertaking. If we get the terms of reference wrong at the outset we will be unable to answer the questions that people want answered. If we end up with a commission that takes ten years to report, it would not be in anyone's interests. We must define the terms of reference in a manner that allows the commission to do its work, get the answers that people want and do so in a timely and cost-effective way. No one in this House wants to see vast sums of money which should be going to people who have suffered being spent on tribunals and the legal profession, with no disrespect to that profession.

I wish to make it clear that I want to be as inclusive as possible in respect of the issues Deputy Daly has raised. The challenge facing me is to find a methodology of doing so in a timely way. Some of the people involved in the home that Deputy Daly referred to are now in their 70s. Certainly, it does not serve them to allow this to go on for ten years or more.

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