Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Department fought the victims and fought Louise O'Keeffe all the way through the High Court, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights, which overturned the previous decisions in Ms O'Keeffe's case.

It is clear the Minister's approach now is to do the absolute minimum to cover herself and the Department on this. Her approach does not have at its centre an acceptance of the hurt and damage that many of these victims experienced as a result of their abuse, nor does it try to address that. She is still taking a legal minimalist approach to the victims who have been failed. In response to the Department's decision to offer the compensation package only in the 45 cases in which the victims continued with their cases despite threats of being pursued for legal action, Louise O'Keeffe said: "It's a shocking discrimination, and it's like I told the Minister: she is giving a settlement to one and she is telling the other to go to hell." These are the words of Louise O'Keeffe, who fought the State all the way on this.

What assurance can the Minister give this morning to victims who have not been included in the compensation package that the State understands and accepts its responsibility in regard to them? Also, what assurance can she give in regard to the overall cap imposed by her? This, again, is minimalist and does not take into account the particular circumstances of individual victims. What assurance can the Minister give that she will revise that cap?

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