Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To be fair, one could have anticipated the Minister's response because it is consistent with the response on Committee Stage. I was hopeful there would be some movement by the Minister in respect of what we were seeking to do in amendment No. 2. I share the views of Deputy Cairns in respect of the culture that seemingly exists within the Department in respect of the freedom of information request that was put in by Elaine Loughlin and Conall Ó Fátharta, as reported in yesterday's Irish Examiner, which reported: "Premature release of policy deliberations into the public domain carries significant risk to policy decision-making processes, particularly in areas that are highly contentious."

Do not infantilise people who have a voice themselves. Do not referred to them as a "vulnerable group". These are people who are well able to stand up for themselves. Do not condescend to them. Do not patronise them. Meet them as equals. We know that the scheme is flawed because we know there are so many who are excluded because of this legislation.

We know that quite a number of people will not have access to healthcare. All we are seeking, in what we feel is a very reasonable way, is that the Minister shift a little bit towards the position the Opposition is promulgating.

Within the very limited means we have, we want to at least keep on the agenda the very people we are seeking to represent, namely, those who were boarded out, people who were born in mother and baby homes, and the people who are in birth to six months age category. I have a daughter at home who is six months old. Any of us who have children see the importance of the first six months in any child's life and the importance of the interaction between the parent and child. For the life of me, I do not see how, logically, we can exclude people in that category. The logic of the position being taken by the Minister is down to finance and how much money will be spent on the scheme. So many people are being excluded, which is not fair. On that basis, we will press the amendment and seek to vote on it.

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