Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have a terrible history in this State of treating people who have been let down by the failures of Government as opponents, enemies or costly and troublesome problems. Whether it was those who were unfairly charged in nursing homes, those whose lives were destroyed by the hepatitis C bad blood scandal in the 1980s or the small number still alive who suffered the lifelong birth effects of thalidomide, Governments consciously planned strategies and schemes to see that they were not treated fairly or given the answers and justice they sought.

While there may be an onus on Government to protect the coffers and act in the interests of the State, there is a tendency to forget that the State is also made up of those vulnerable citizens who have been failed and left with no option to go to the courts to seek redress and compensation. Is it too much for us to ask as legislators that the Government also acts in the best interests of those who have been so badly wronged?

I ask for full co-operation from all those who were in positions of authority and power in the decision-making process to deny fair redress to work with the Oireachtas Committee on Health or the Committee of Public Accounts in their investigations. While the Government may claim that this wrong is "historical", it replicates a pattern of denial and smoke-screen tactics whenever cases like this arise. This behaviour is unacceptable and misguided.

There must be a fundamental shift in how we view the damage that can be done to people's lives by cold and cruel decisions that deny legitimate claims by victims and their families. We must not fight survivors like the survivors of the hepatitis C debacle or the women who were failed by CervicalCheck. We must not hide the truth away, compound hurt and have it dragged out piece by piece. Where wrongs have been done by Government, they must be corrected and where damage has been caused, there must be redress. I do not think anyone could disagree with anything I have said. The approach of Government is wrong. It has been wrong in the past and from the statements we have heard today, we have not learned any lessons from those awful times.

See this speech in context