Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Throughout my discussions with the Minister, he always has seemed to genuinely care about the survivors and to want to do the right thing by them. I will not deny that but unfortunately, it seems as though he is being prevented by his Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael colleagues in government from doing the right thing. Those parties have a desperate track record on this issue and they are stuck up to their necks in it. It is not just them but it is also the religious institutions, the embassies and the justice system. They were all responsible for keeping these hellholes open and for putting families through what happened.

We are effectively talking about human trafficking and I have said that in this House before, yet a six-month exclusion is being put in place by the Government, which denies 41% of people who were in these homes from getting redress. Let us make no mistake; these homes and institutions were a moneymaking machine for an awful lot of people down through the decades and now we are denying families and individuals. I said to the Minister the other day that all most of the survivors want is recognition but we are even denying them that. Children who were boarded out were brought up already. They must be included and there must be more consultation with the religious orders as they have a responsibility. The pharmaceutical companies also have a responsibility in these issues.

Women who went through these institutions and others like them, such as Sean Ross Abbey and the county homes in Thurles and Cashel in my constituency, deserve to be heard and listened to. I am asking the Minister to do the right thing and to review the whole redress scheme immediately because it is not wanted and it is not even making the survivors happy. It is just adding more hurt on top of the hurt that has gone on for decades. I hate to say this but I am asking the Minister to stand up to those in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael who were stuck up to their necks in this throughout the decades. That seems to be the only way the survivors will get what they deserve at this stage. I am pleading with the Minister, on behalf of the survivors who have been in contact with me and everyone in this House, to do the right thing by them.

See this speech in context