Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I suppose the question everyone across the State wants an answer to is why the Government has decided that there should be a hierarchy on suffering. Who made that decision? Children who were boarded out, many used as slaves and many abused, have been excluded along with children who were less than six months in these appalling institutions. A number of homes and institutions and all the survivors who spent time in them have been excluded. That means they cannot access the enhanced medical card or the financial redress but much worse than that, it means that the State does not recognise what happened to them. That is the biggest insult of all. The scheme has created an appalling hierarchy of victims and a clumsy hierarchy of suffering that does not reflect the experiences that survivors have had. Yet the Minister said he listened to survivors. It needs to be rectified immediately before more hurt and trauma is inflicted by the State on survivors. Let us remember that the State is responsible for the harm that was done and it must take responsibility for that. The time limits that exclude survivors must be removed. The institutions and children who were boarded out must be included. The religious orders and the pharmaceutical companies must also step up and take responsibility for what they did. The Minister said that he has been in negotiations with them but he must ensure that it happens.

All these abuses have life-long effects on people. Survivors, after all this time, are still being excluded. There is one opportunity to address it. It has to be addressed. Let the Government do the right thing in the name of God, after decades of survivors' campaigning for redress and justice. Just this once, will the Government surprise us and do the right thing by these people who were let down by the State?

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