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

There a few final points I want to make. It is really important that survivors and people affected by this get the report first. While that might seem like common sense to everybody, there has been a history and a pattern of things being leaked and of people hearing media stories. I was contacted by people who thought the report was being published this week and that was not the case. It is really important that survivors get copies.

Some people have even contacted me to ask whether they will get a copy or will have to read it online. We might think "of course they will get a copy", but that needs to be reaffirmed to them. They need to be communicated with and told that they will get a copy and their views will be respected in terms of them getting this first, before it is released to the wider public. That is the least they deserve.

I want to briefly mention Bessborough. I welcome the fact that the Minister mentioned that we will definitely have the pre-legislative scrutiny of the certain institutional burials (authorised interventions) Bill in January. In the past week or two, there has been a planning application in relation to the former site at Bessborough. The burial grounds are included in that. People are concerned that works will go ahead there. We should have that pre-legislative scrutiny and have that proposed Bill passed before any works are carried out.

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