Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The report is still working on the mechanism in terms of Cabinet confidentiality and more general Cabinet documents and also the degree to which, in the modern era, many documents or many proposals are aired well in advance. There is, therefore, a fairly complex piece of work required to come up to pace with where we are today in terms of what happens with the briefing of a whole variety of proposals and policies. Given the more open approach to policy development in the current era, it is timely to update that entire area.

Deputy McDonald raised the individual case of Margaret Donovan. Ms Donovan should not have to navigate this on her own. I referenced earlier the survivor advocacy liaison services in the HSE. Assistance should be given to people in Ms Donovan's situation to navigate to get the truth. I have met the residents of Bessborough who have views on that site. They have a view as to where the site is located and that housing development should not take place on that site. I agree with the survivors in that respect. They are not objecting to other developments in the vicinity of the site, it has to be said. I hope Cork City Council will work with the survivors who have taken a very reasonable approach to the matter. The future development of that site is important. I would have preferred it if the council had purchased the entire site because some of the services there are State services and amenities, and also maybe some social housing, could have been provided there as well.

On Deputy Tóibín's point, I do not know but I will come back to him on the separate investigation. The scheme of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme Bill was published on 29 March. It is undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny but is, in parallel, being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, so that when the pre-legislative scrutiny is over we may be in a position to get the legislation published faster. I would like to see it published in the autumn and enacted in the autumn session. That will need co-operation across the House because we need to start the process of payment in respect of this. It is an important issue. An implementation group has been established to oversee preparations for the scheme. Project planning work is under way on the scheme itself. It will provide financial payments and an enhanced medical card but, again, much will depend on its progress through pre-legislative scrutiny.

To be fair to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, if we go through all the areas, we can see he has made very significant progress in respect of the entire action plan. The Birth Information and Tracing Act is the most complex legislation of its kind and has been groundbreaking in terms of what it will provide. It is far superior to earlier iterations in previous Dáileanna. Also, the Institutional Burials Bill is very important legislation and the Minister stands ready to intervene immediately in relation to that. The HSE national counselling service is also available. The payments scheme is key and a very important part of the action plan is the memorialisation centre. We were hoping we would have that at Cabinet today but I am anticipating we will have it at Cabinet in the next number of weeks so we can give effect to it. That would be a very significant issue in itself.

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