Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist a chuir sí orm. Is ceist an-tábhachtach í. Bhí imní orm nuair a chonaic mé na daoine taobh amuigh den Dáil cúpla lá ó shin agus iad ar stailc ocrais. Beidh mé ag caint leis an Aire oideachais faoin gceist sin.

I am also very concerned about what I have seen recently. This issue was raised with me last week by Deputy Michael Cahill. It is a matter of extreme concern that there are individuals who are making such dangerous efforts to make their point. It is a point they are making admirably but I urge them not to make it through hunger strike. Like the rest of us, the Deputy will be aware of the dangers such a strike poses to health. I ask those involved to try to engage.

The Deputy made the point that there has not been engagement. However, I understand that officials from the Department of Education and Youth recently met directly with the group to listen to their concerns. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, also spoke to members of the group who were present during the passage of the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025 in July.

One of the points the Deputy made is that she wants the survivors to be provided with the HAA card they are demanding. I will point out that the supports for survivors Act enables the HSE to provide a package of ongoing health supports and services to survivors. This entitlement will be for life and will not be subject to means tests or periodic reviews. However, I acknowledge that some survivors have sought the provision of what they refer to as a "HAA card". It is important to note that the HAA card provided under the Health (Amendment) Act 1996 was introduced specifically to meet the very significant health needs of a particular group of individuals who contracted a serious and life-threatening condition. I believe it was individuals who had contracted hepatitis C as a result of the negligence of the State. The package of health supports to be provided under the supports for survivors Act is the same as that previously provided to survivors and former residents of the Magdalen laundry and mother and baby home institutions. The Act therefore provides that survivors of industrial schools and reformatories will be treated consistently in this regard.

I am also aware that another of the concerns of the survivors is that they want a pension top-up payment. Again, it is acknowledged that there have been calls for the State to provide this pension payment to survivors and that payments of this type are made to survivors of the Magdalen laundries. However, it should be noted that those payments reflect the very particular circumstances involved, where the women in the Magdalen laundries were engaged in commercial work as adults, in some cases for many years, without appropriate contributions.

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