Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)

There are former residential and reformatory school survivors on hunger strike outside the gates of Leinster House as we speak. I raised this matter last week with the Minister for justice in the Dáil. This is their tenth day on hunger strike. This very serious situation has reached an impasse, with the Minister for education having advised them that their demands cannot be met. The hunger strikers assure me they will see this out to a tragic conclusion if necessary. Is there nothing we can offer them to end this tragic event? After their years of suffering in the control of a State body, they have been left with nothing. Others in similar circumstances have received some compensation. Their demands include each being issued with a HAA card to access comprehensive healthcare and full contributory State pensions to compensate for the years of forced unpaid labour they provided to the State.

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