Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I again express my sincere horror that the Government and the Minister have set their faces against dealing with this issue in any shape, make or form. They have tried to convince themselves, because they need to convince themselves, that they are doing something for the good of the survivors. That would take some convincing, and if they can convince themselves of that, they can convince themselves of anything. We have all received thousands of impassioned pleas from victims and survivors all over the country, and beyond. I am sure the Minister has also received such pleas, as well as all the Teachtaí in Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and the Regional Independent Group, or the vast majority of Deputies, who are backing the Government through thick and thin, no matter what the subject.

It is a sad day in our country. We have talked about many issues from the past. We have had the children's referendum, the marriage equality referendum and the referendum on repeal of the eighth amendment. We are now supposed to be a place of openness, transparency and honesty, and a new Ireland. It is some new Ireland all right when we look at this Parliament today and see the legislation we are debating. It is draconian, tyrannical and shocking. Then we see this legacy issue of horror and hurt and disdainful treatment of our citizens. We have probably moved on from all that now and we are supposed to be a modern, pluralist country, but this is shocking. I refer to the outright rejection of all these amendments. The Government has set its face against accepting them. Deputy Cairns asked for a comment regarding the amendments, but could not get one. We are taking the silence of the Minister to indicate that he is not accepting any amendments. All of this means that we are going to remove these documents and lock them away for 30 years.

We had a great time during the millennium celebrations of 20 years ago when many schools and communities put time capsules into the ground. We were all delighted and wondered who would dig them up in 100 years and what those people would think of us. This capsule, however, is being buried somewhere, and it is a murky and dirty one. It is most definitely not a joyous one and will not be. History will not be kind to this Government and to the Minister. I could call it a cabal, but I will not because the Government has a majority, it is elected and it has cobbled together a Government, with the aid of Independents.

I cannot believe what is happening and the people looking in cannot believe it. All right-thinking people, young and old, from the age of reason, think that what is going on is an abhorrence in this day and age of 2020 in the middle of a pandemic.

I am in disbelief. The former Minister, Katherine Zappone, convened a forum for survivors. I understand a good few of them came to it and she engaged with them in a listening process. They made it quite clear, as many have to me personally and to other Deputies as well, that they do not want anonymity. They want their names to be out there. They want to be recognised as human beings, as people who have suffered and whose lives have almost been destroyed, who have fought back and come back from that and who want to move on with their lives. They want to have their records.

The Government claims we are protecting the records but this is emergency legislation, or rushed legislation, which is always bad legislation. There has been no pre-legislative scrutiny. This Government has only been in being for a short time but I think it will pass out the 2011-16 Government for lack of scrutiny of legislation and the use of guillotines by another name. The latest trick in the book is to blame the Business Committee for everything. The Ceann Comhairle chairs the Business Committee and does a fine job of it. It happened again today when the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, blamed the Business Committee for the way we are dealing with the Bill. The fact is that the Government just uses the name of the Business Committee. We object but are steamrolled because it has a majority.

This is sad. Doing this to a cohort of people who have suffered enough for a long time will be a blight on this House. We are again trying to suppress what went on in our murky past. All these people want is openness, honesty and transparency and to be allowed to go on with their lives but this legislation will not let them. The outright refusal of the Government to accept any amendments reminds me of countries in eastern Europe in the past that would set their face against any reform, common decency or dealing with the opposition and trying to embrace it. We are supposed to be all in this together and I am always saying ní neart go cur le chéile but in this case the Government knows best and knows everything. When Deputies become Ministers, they try to break out of the straitjackets they are in but senior civil servants do not allow them to do so. I do not want to demonise any senior civil servant but it seems the system has to be protected above all else. The sacred system cannot be questioned or gone against. They must toe the party line. This is going to end with the Department in tatters. It is going to end in more prolonged grief for the survivors - I hate to call them victims but they were in many cases - as well as for their families, children, grandchildren and generations to come. It is an appalling vista.

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