Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make a brief contribution to this debate, discussion and conversation. It is time for us to have this national conversation on a person-to-person basis. I was deeply touched and moved by Deputy Anne Ferris's contribution last night, coming as it did from a colleague of ours who expressed her feelings.

Equally, I was touched by Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett, who spoke so honestly and in such a profound way, as a man and Member of the Dáil, to awaken in us the understanding that here was a very bad architecture of our Irish psyche. It was not just institutions, convents and laundries, as families also abandoned their flesh and blood. It was something strange. It is a reminder for me, when we are in these places of discourse such as the Dáil or committee rooms, that we are all part of the human family. Our hearts, minds and feelings are all integrated like the texture of a cloth or fabric. It was a very dark stain on the fabric of our Irish nation, people and family.

As Deputy Creighton and other Deputies have stated, we cannot just do something about it in a particular list of areas. We should make every effort to have full outreach to include everybody. Deputies Robert Dowds and Jack Wall described elderly men and women who, after 20 years of enclosed silence in their very beings, just want the truth of the expression of their experience. We must hold the hands of these fellow Irish men and women, some of whom are younger or older. Some of them are still very hurt and damaged. We must let our senses try to reach out to feel their pain and have compassion.

We must practically and pragmatically help them where they need it. It may be financial or emotional, but whatever their needs I appeal to all of us to go the extra mile, improve the arrangement in whatever way we can in committee and be generous. There is no point in being tight-pursed, tight-hearted or tight-minded about this. It is bigger than that. It would be a good example for younger people, who may not have had direct experience, insights or exposure of this darker side of Irish history, to see that we are really concerned in our hearts and minds and give time, resources, money and whatever is needed to make restitution, compensation or a gesture of kindness to the people who have been hurt.

This travels through the generations, which is why Deputy Ferris's story was so touching. It does not just affect the people who were in the institutions; it travels beyond through their families. We have the chance to try to make up the ground, and all I will say is let us do our very best with no pointscoring. Let us throw in all we can, by way of help and kindness, to make up as much as we can to the women and their children, men and women, who had this awful experience. I ask the Minister of State to take on board that we should do all we can.

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