Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Bacik for raising this important issue around child protection and child abuse and making sure we have a zero-tolerance approach to this matter in all organisations, including in State agencies, political parties and everywhere else. I could not agree more with the Deputy. The issue of child protection is the most important one. Child abuse is something that sickens everybody to the very gut of their stomach. It absolutely does. I thank the Deputy for her constructive engagement and suggestions. I assure her we will work with her and all of the Opposition in relation to getting this matter right. I think the Deputy's critique of successive governments is fair. Many of us have been in them over the years. The people in good faith try to establish inquiries and get to the bottom of things, and then it seems we are always one report away. We have had so many reports into sexual abuse. Let us be really honest. It is such a stain on our country. The pain caused by the sins of the past is destroying lives today.

We have had engagement over decades, if we think about it, with religious orders on whether people will do the right thing. Let us be honest, they have not or certainly the overwhelming majority of them have not. The short answer is "Yes". We will work with the Opposition and engage with the Labour Party's legislation. An interdepartmental group was set up after the scoping inquiry into sexual abuse in schools. As part of that work, the Attorney General has been asked to consider the whole issue of how to ensure that if a redress scheme is put in place - and there needs to be a redress scheme - there will be mechanisms not just to ask nicely but to make sure that if people do not do the right thing, they will need to contribute to the scheme.

In the first instance, while I know Deputy Bacik would not do so, I do not want to be misrepresented as suggesting that it is just about asking nicely or appealing to people's better nature. When people issue statements, and the religious orders did issue statements of profound regret and the likes, one would hope that they would now do the right thing. I want the Government's position to be clear, and I expect it is also the position across parties in this House, that if people do not do the right thing, we need to find legislative mechanisms to ensure that the correct thing is done.

The Deputy is asking me to give a timeline which is not unreasonable but I want to be honest. I want to get this right and I know the Minister, Deputy Foley, wants to get it right. She has handled the issue very well and sensitively. Deputy Bacik acknowledged the engagement she has had with the Opposition. She has also had great and meaningful engagement with survivors. Making sure that the structures and mechanisms we put in place produce answers, healing, justice, accountability and appropriate redress is important. We will continue to work on this. I have no doubt, and I think I can speak for the House on this, that regardless of when there is a general election, this is something to which we will all commit to getting right and working on together.

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