Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I mentioned the Tuam group earlier, but we also have with us James Sugrue and Peter Mulryan, two of the boarded-out children. They want the point to be made that they were given a commitment by the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, about their own cases and that they should not be forgotten. The difficulty we have had with the Government is that members say one thing when they meet survivors but when it comes down to brass tacks, we see a totally different approach.

I am struggling for words because we have had so many debates on the mother and baby institutions and so many committee meetings, including through Covid, when we had to figure out how we could bring people up to Dublin so that we could hear directly from them. We overcame all the difficulties and, as a committee, we worked very well and very hard together on a cross-party basis. That does not happen very often. Yet, here we are and the scheme still excludes so many people.

I agree with the other speakers that we need to know why people who were born in the institutions or spent less than six months in them are being left out. With all due respect, the reason the Minister does not want to answer that is that it is a cost-saving measure. I believe that if the Minister was in one of the seats over here, he would not fundamentally agree with this scheme.

I also want to briefly mention the religious institutions and the pharmaceutical companies because they must be pursued. I said on Second Stage that we should seek to pursue them through the courts because they must pay their fair share as well.

I know I am running out of time but I beg the Acting Chair to indulge me for 30 seconds. Before Christmas, when a health Bill was due to be guillotined, the debate was adjourned with a view to coming back to it after Christmas. That was the first time in the seven years I have been in this House that the right decision was made on such a matter. The same can be done with this Bill. We could adjourn the debate and, without going back to the drawing board, devise a scheme that will include everybody and ensure that all those who spent even a few minutes in an institution are included in it. Deputy Boyd Barrett summed up the entire situation in his contribution. I commend him on that.

See this speech in context