Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I welcome the establishment of this commission of investigation. While I have hope for it I am concerned that while the Commission of Investigation Act 2004 does allow for human rights compliance in the establishment of tribunals, inquiries and commissions of investigation, unfortunately in the two decades since the levels of compliance make a patchwork quilt when it comes to domestic and international standards of human rights compliance. I am concerned that these terms of reference need absolutely to be critically drafted in thinking about human rights compliance and making sure they are trauma informed and meet the needs of survivors. They are the people this is for.

As colleagues have pointed out, a key issue we need to consider is accessibility and making sure that those who are hardest to reach are a part of this process from the very outset. They are the ones who will ultimately feel the impact of this commission of investigation in their own lives.

That leads me to my second point. We still need a real paradigm shift in how the State treats victims of State wrongdoing. There is still a mechanism by which they are treated with suspicion and not cared for in the way the State needs to. We should be looking at people in these situations with compassion and care and we should be recognising the power relationship between the State and these children, as they were, when these wrongs were done to them. It is not one person at fault here. It is not the Civil Service, or the Government or any given Department – it is a state-wide attitude which permeates and still treats people with suspicion and mistrust instead of the compassion and care with which all these commissions of investigation, inquiries and tribunals should be imbued. We can use this opportunity to really turn a corner as a state and to start recognising the role of the State in the treatment of people who have been victims of State wrongdoing with much more care and compassion, taking a trauma-informed and a human-rights compliant approach.

See this speech in context