Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

Following on from the Minister's indication that he will not accept any amendments, it is really important to recognise, as has been registered by many Deputies in the Dáil over the past day or two, what we are dealing with here. The Minister is ignoring the wishes of the people who have survived these institutions and their families and relatives. We are dealing with one of the major historical crimes of the 20th century that happened in this country. The journalist Fintan O'Toole has estimated that if industrial schools are included, one in every 100 people in this country was a victim of systematic mass incarceration, a system which involved forced labour, abduction of children and adults, forced separation of families, disappearances, medical experimentation without consent, abuse and torture. Yet the Minister is not willing to consider amendments tabled by an Opposition that is no better or worse than he or his Government but has a serious contribution to make to this debate. This was a systematic reign of terror against women, children and the poor. The Minister is a Green Party member. He is supposed to be socially conscious. This reign of terror was comparable, to my mind, to the terror in the Gulags in Stalin's Soviet Union. The terror these institutions in Ireland have inflicted on this society over the past 100 years has been keenly felt throughout that time. The system involved various Departments of State, civil servants, local authorities, members of the Garda, members of the medical profession, and institutions of both the Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland. Who is the Minister trying to protect?

The manner in which the survivors, adopted children, family members - all those affected by this crime - have been treated constitutes a continuation of cruel and inhumane treatment and a further denial of their basic human rights. The commission of inquiry rejected all appeals, by both individuals and organisations representing those affected, for them to have access to their personal data. They should have been able to receive copies of all their deceased relatives' personal data and their transcripts of evidence. They should have been able to comment on the evidence from the State and others involved in their maltreatment, and it is not acceptable now to compound this human rights denial by locking any archives for 30 years.

I welcome the Minister's amendment in this grouping to keep a full copy of the archives under his protection, or that of any Minister. Serious concerns, however, have been expressed by victims, relatives and advocacy groups regarding Tusla in respect of requests for information and personal data and adoption tracing. It is important now that EU law on GDPR is observed by the Minister. Our amendments Nos. 14 and 27 also deal with this issue. Despite the Minister and the Government not accepting amendments, I urge members to support the amendments in favour of the creation of an index to the Minister's archive. It is important for those people who wish to access information from the archive to know what is in it and where it is located.

What system are we protecting? Perhaps the Minister can answer that. It is not the survivors and their families. It is important in an historical context that we learn from this experience and about who the perpetrators were, just for our nation but also for nations across the world where there has been the same type of abuse, such as in Australia, and in respect of native Indians and others. That is important for historical reasons, but also for the survivors dealing with and trying to work through what happened to them and their lives. I am disgusted to hear that the Minister will not accept any amendments.

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