Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. When he says there has been progress, it is very hard for survivors to see what that is. Nobody is being held to account. In regard to the meeting of 11 December, what would the Minister consider the best outcome from that to be? When it comes to the FAI and gender quotas in sports organisations, they are told that if they do not meet a certain level, their funding will be cut. A similar approach needs to be applied to St. John Ambulance. It cannot be given funding when it has not implemented any clear change. There have been tiny tweaks but any change has been glacial.

I know this is an important issue for the Minister and he is very committed, but the difficulty is that people just do not feel as though it is going to go anywhere. It has been a year; who knows how much longer it will take? People should not have to wait years and years for justice and for the State to intervene and put in place structures that will prevent what happened to them from happening again. They do not see that at the moment and that is very disheartening for all the survivors. Likewise, it must be disheartening for the people who, as the Minister said, joined the organisation with the best of intentions that a group within St. John Ambulance are still there and are not being held accountable. That is a great pity for everyone, whether the State or the survivors themselves.

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