Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are no precise, up-to-date data on the number of survivors of abuse in residential institutions who are still alive today but I can tell you they are not getting any younger. Therefore, we all need to work together to have this Bill enacted quickly. This is of the utmost importance.

As of 31 December 2015, the Residential Institutions Redress Board had made awards of compensation to 15,579 survivors. These survivors, along with those who obtained a similar court award or settlement, would be eligible to access support provided for under this Bill. That is really welcome and important because not enough has been done.

On supporting further and higher education through grants for survivors ranging from €500 to €2,000, it is important to realise that according to the Ryan report, residents of the schools were provided with inadequate food and clothing, cold accommodation, poor hygiene facilities, and poor standards of education and physical care. What they had was industrial training that served the needs of the institutions, not children. Therefore, school is not a place that many survivors would intentionally revisit. While some survivors may avail of the support, many are older and have health issues. Maybe we could now consider some kind of pension plan for them and ensure full access to the medical card system.

The Magdalen laundry survivors were given a full pension that recognised the work they performed during their incarceration, as well as an enhanced medical card. They have held these for over ten years now, whereas those who went to an industrial school have had no such privilege, even though they also worked as children.

I still have issues with doctors charging medical card patients for blood tests when they should not. I would not like to see this happening to survivors. Shameful as it is, we have to accept that some survivors are living in poverty and may have mental health problems. Some are homeless and socially isolated. The package of support containing the enhanced medical card gives survivors access to GP services, medicines, home nursing, home help, dental, ear and eye services, counselling, chiropody, podiatry and physiotherapy.

My main question concerns whether we have staff to provide the relevant services. While there is a huge recruitment problem in the HSE given the demand, we must ensure the services exist for the survivors. It is of the utmost importance to get this legislation through the Houses as quickly as possible but we need to ensure the services are available.

Recently, a concerned constituent of mine who used the chiropodist clinic at Shamrock Plaza Primary Care Centre told me that, as far as they know, no one has been appointed to run the clinic. They fear it might close. This is speculation but I might check it out. It does not inspire confidence if the services are not kept open. We need to make sure survivors get all the care they deserve.

Some survivors tell me their medical cards might be different from those of others. I refer to the enhanced medical card. I am trying to get information on this because, as the Minister of State knows, the average age of survivors is now 69 and their numbers have dwindled. They have the general medical card in most cases. I am trying to find out the exact position on the enhanced medical card. One lady said to me that she fears she would stick out like a sore thumb when trying to access anything medical as it would be obvious that only people who had been in institutions or mother and baby homes would carry the enhanced card. We have to be very mindful about this. While the enhanced card is welcome, we do not want people to feel they might stand out. I am going to try to get more information on this.

I also want to ask about accessing housing supports and the prioritisation of survivors, particularly regarding grants for roofs, windows and doors, bathroom adaptation and bedrooms. We need to move quicker on this. This is another major issue we have not addressed well. We should have made these issues a priority.

Since the Birth Information and Tracing Act came into effect in October 2022, Tusla has received over 7,200 applications for birth and early life information. It has provided information for around 5,400 applicants, yet I receive complaints that people are waiting for up to 12 months to gain access to their records. Again, this needs to be addressed urgently. There have been 5,700 applications for Tusla tracing services to find relatives and only 1,600 have been allocated to a social worker. I am aware that we have a social worker recruitment and retention crisis but we need to do something about this because survivors have waited long enough. Tusla stated when the legislation was introduced that it did not plan appropriately or predict the volume and demand that would arise in such a short timeframe. We are hiring additional staff to deal with the backlog of cases. I realise the Minister of State is working across the board but the survivors and I need to know that the Government is acting and giving the best supports and best care, which survivors should be getting.

I spoke to a survivor recently. I have been working with the survivors. We all have heard stories and have to be very mindful but survivors are now telling me they are holding a protest on 11 May on Sean MacDermott Street concerning industrial school survivors not having had dialogue on the future housing of their history. I can say only this: survivors have to be listened to and we have to have communication and information. This is the only way to get this Bill through as quickly as possible. The Government needs to have it agreed by all parties. Survivors are getting older and we need to deliver for them and their families. We need to get this done as soon as possible.

See this speech in context