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

I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Tóibín's question related to the possibility of a State apology to the Traveller community. He spoke about the attempt for decades to assimilate the Traveller community, which was wrong and should not have happened. I recall that under the Government led by Enda Kenny, and with a lot of leadership from the Minister of State at the time, Deputy Stanton, we as a State recognised Traveller ethnicity. This was the right thing to do.

I know from being involved in State apologies in the past that any apology has to be carefully considered. First of all it has to be adequate because if it is not adequate it is not accepted. It has to be authentic. We can only apologise for things that definitely happened, for obvious reasons. Beyond this, it needs to be followed up with action. It cannot just be an apology and that is the end of it. I will certainly be happy to engage with the Traveller organisations on the matter. I have met them on a number of occasions. I do not think it has ever been raised as an issue but that is not to say it is not an issue. It is something I will follow up with those organisations.

On the issue of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has explained, as have I in the House on many occasions, the reasons for the criteria. In terms of the timeline, the establishment of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme is an important commitment to the Government's response to the final report. In July the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act was signed into law.

Work is now under way in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to progress the scheme and the structures needed for a scheme of this size. This includes appointing a chief deciding officer and staff, establishing an online application system, rolling out trauma-informed training for the staff and ensuring that all necessary communications, information and application forms for applicants are in place in hard copy and electronic form. The Department informs me it will be a number of months before this work has concluded and the scheme can be open to applications.

With regard to the issue of sexual abuse at St. John's Ambulance I am aware of the report and some of the issues in it. St John's Ambulance is not a public body and we do not appoint the board. The Government has limited influence in terms of what it can do. It does receive some State funding. I am not sure whether this is continuing. I can certainly check it out. I will have to ask the Minister to come back to Deputy Murphy to see whether there is more that we can do to encourage the organisation to do what is right, not only by people who were harmed in the past but also for the future of the organisation itself.

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