Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste and I had a very good meeting yesterday with the Women of Honour. It was very useful to hear from them their views on this matter.

There are other groups we need to talk to as well, but it was particularly useful to hear their views. I can certainly understand the points they made. Having gone through private or closed-door processes that did not work, they felt the need and took the decision to go public. In my view this was a very brave decision. For that reason, they want an inquiry to be held in public. Deputy Bacik is a barrister and she knows the pluses and minuses and the pros and cons of that approach. The same applies to the terms of reference. The wider the terms of reference, the broader they are and the longer the inquiry will go on. We must make sure we get it right, that we get to the truth, and that the serving members of the Defence Forces in particular have confidence that this inquiry is real. There will be further meetings this week and we will consult the Opposition once we have a plan.

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