Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is a famous song by Mike and the Mechanics called "The Living Years". I think we all know the lyrics and can apply them to our own lives in many ways. We need to apply a little bit of them to politics and what happened to Ruth Morrissey. There is no use in apologising now. Her family has made that clear. They do not want an apology. What they want - I know it is what Ruth wanted, as she told me so - is the Civil Liability Act to be amended to do as I just said and as the Chief Justice himself outlined. The Labour Party is going to bring forward that legislation in her honour and I expect the Taoiseach to support it. I expect the House to support it and I expect the Taoiseach to support it.

Not too long ago, the Minister for Health stated the women involved and their families should be put at the heart of the State's response. He stated that this should be done, regardless of whether we think it is right message, and that, for once, we should just do what they want and put them at the centre of matters. We need to put them at the centre of this.

The volume of cases coming through means that we need to amend the legislation. I will be asking the Taoiseach to honour the Government's commitments to the nth degree when we bring forward the legislation. I will also be asking him to ensure that the process by means of which the tribunal will operate will be changed to make it less adversarial. It cannot be a carbon copy of previous models. There are too many cases out there. If the Taoiseach honours those two requests, it will mean something has been done in memory of Ruth Morrissey.

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