Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that there is a date for publication. I, along with many others, have been anxious to get a date but I am also mindful that today marks exactly three weeks to Christmas Eve. I have been speaking to many survivors and various representatives over the past two weeks. I have had a number of online meetings. People are concerned that the report is to be published and everyone would leave them high and dry over the Christmas period. Unfortunately, that has been their experience of dealing with the State over the years. They have been let down. I do not blame people for feeling like that.

It is vital that the correct counselling supports are put in place. They should have been put in place a long time ago regardless of whether a report was being published. Now that we will have the report, which I believe is 4,000 pages long, it will be difficult reading. Obviously, it was a difficult lived experience for so many people and their families. It is important that there are the correct counsellors and that people are not merely guided on to some number, where one is on a waiting list and one will be 18 months waiting, or to somebody who does not really understand. There needs to be trauma-specific counsellors dealing with people. They need to be services that are available specifically for survivors and those affected, not added on to an existing overburdened service. That is crucial. I welcome that we have a date because it is important for people to be able to prepare for it mentally as well.

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