Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I will speak on the various aspects of the Bill. It is important that the Bill is passed to ensure that the provisions within it are brought into law in order that survivors of institutional abuse are looked after. It is very difficult. Like all public representatives, over the years I have met individuals who have suffered. I do not want to discuss their names but this calls to mind many conversations I have had over many years with people who have suffered enormously. They discussed the challenges they faced in their lives as a result of this.

We must look at the various aspects of the State’s involvement and the lack of oversight by the State. Concerns were raised by many people over the years and they were dismissed. I find it difficult to discuss the Bill because it brings to mind a number of conversations I have had with individuals, particularly those who were in later life. Even before I became a public representative, people discussed the challenges and difficulties they faced as a result of the abuse they suffered. It is hugely important, as some Members and people who have come to me have said, that the State accepts that abuse was suffered. It was abuse. In some instances at the time, it was an acknowledgement that abuse took place in institutions that had been providing services to the State and that they were not being properly watched over.

I have met many individuals who have outlined the difficulties they have had throughout their lives. They gave me very challenging information. We have worked for many years with individuals and families to try to get the best possible advice, counselling, etc., for them. It always harks back to the challenges, issues and traumas they experienced. That led to addiction issues, as well as to confidence issues whereby they were unable to fulfil their dreams. One individual said to me that their dreams and aspirations were pounded out of them when they were in these institutions, as though they were non-human and were not entitled to have the same as any other human being.

This goes back to the Proclamation of independence and cherishing all people and citizens of the State equally. It is hugely important that now and in the future we, as public representatives, constantly keep that at our core, because the results of our not doing that have had an enormous impact. I am often reminded in these debates about one discussion I had many years ago. There was an elderly gentleman, or that is what I thought of him at the time. Now, when I look back at it, he was not so elderly. This goes back more than 30 years. We were speaking as we were doing a job together. He discussed the challenges he faced in life after abuse and how it had such a detrimental effect on him, his family and subsequent relationships. That day, he said, "You know, Michael, when we were at our most Catholic, we were at our least Christian”. Every time a discussion takes place on redress for institutional abuse or when cases are brought forward about what happened in the past and, in some instances in the not-so-distant past, that statement reverberates around us. It is hugely important that in this Bill and as we go forward, we must make sure we reach out our hands. There is the enhanced medical card, there are provisions for education and so on but at the very core of this, we must acknowledge the desperate trauma that was visited upon people. They have not been able to put it beyond them for a variety of reasons, no matter how they have tried and no matter what supports were given to them. It had a lasting and devastating impact on the lives of individuals and families.

There are good measures in this Bill that address the shortcomings of the State. Yet, it is important that every day, we are reminded of what we must now do to deal with the trauma of the past in order to ensure it does not happen in the present day. We can see the lack of services in a whole variety of areas of the provision of care for people. It is important that we, as public representatives, the Government and the State are challenged to not allow a situation that may spark a debate again in 30, 40 or 50 years’ time in the Houses of the Oireachtas to bring redress for something that is happening in the here and now. We must be mindful of that at all times. We must be mindful of the horrendous trauma that was visited upon people. We should make sure that, here and now, this is not being done by the State. We must bring any challenges and information to the right authorities to make sure this is not visited on individuals or families.

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