Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. Like him and all of us, I take all of these lives seriously, regardless of anyone's age or anybody's background. That has nothing to do with it. I have met the families from Dealgan House and I have committed, and am happy to reiterate that commitment, to assist them in seeking answers to what happened to their loved ones. They have every right to that.

The difficulty we all face as legislators, in this one example, is we all know there are multiple ongoing court cases. A voluntary process is difficult because I imagine those who we would want to be involved will take legal advice that says, "You are in court; therefore, do not participate in anything." What, then, do we do? We potentially move to a statutory investigation. Again, this is something that can be looked at but we all just need to be clear ourselves. We know statutory inquiries often tend, as Deputy Kenny said, to enrich one group of people and not get answers for the people who matter most. I am trying to find some mechanism that delivers for the families without it taking years of their lives and potentially failing them, which a formal statutory inquiry could result in if we get it wrong.

See this speech in context