Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Adult disclosure referrals are being categorised as low priority. I asked the chief executive of Tusla when he was before an Oireachtas committee recently how adult disclosures are categorised, and they are low priority. That set off alarm bells for me. I still think about the children who are at risk.

We need a strategy that seeks to educate, create awareness and encourage adults who have experienced abuse to come forward and thereby reduce child sexual abuse. We also need to use the information to protect further generations of children and young people from abuse. This is one of the dark parts of our history. The Minister and I and all Members of the Oireachtas will be defined by how we address these matters. We must bring all agencies together to clear the retrospective and historical cases as quickly as possible. I have requested that we have a section within Tusla that is singularly responsible for retrospective cases in order that we can clear the backlog.

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