Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to make the point that the purpose of the tribunal is to get cases settled quickly, in months rather than years, and to respect the deeply sensitive, private and confidential nature of the issues at hand. The hearings are, of course, held in private. There are also pre-hearing steps designed to reduce the adversarial nature of claims, including allowing women to give written statements rather than verbal testimony. This is a much more informal process than going through the court system. We acknowledge the numbers the Deputy referenced.

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