Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach the total number of times taoisigh have issued State apologies in the past decade. [30823/23]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach if he will list the State apologies issued by his Department in each of the past ten years. [30866/23]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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3. To ask the Taoiseach the State apologies issued by taoisigh since 2013. [32197/23]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach to list the total number of State apologies issued by his Department since 2011. [32546/23]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together.

In the past ten years, apologies have been issued in the Dáil, by the Taoiseach on behalf of the State.

In February 2013, the then Taoiseach, Mr. Enda Kenny, issued an apology on behalf of the Government in Dáil Éireann to women who were resident in Magdalen laundries for hurt done to them and any stigma suffered by reason of their residence in those institutions. The Magdalen ex gratiascheme, as recommended by Mr. Justice John Quirke, was established following the publication of the McAleese report in February 2013. The Government has honoured its commitments to the Magdalen women by ensuring that Mr. Justice Quirke’s report and the recommendations of the Ombudsman's report of November 2017 are fully implemented.

On 22 October 2019, I issued an apology in the Dáil on behalf of the State to the women and their loved ones affected by failings in the CervicalCheck screening programme. The apology came on foot of Dr. Gabriel Scally’s scoping inquiry into CervicalCheck.

Since then, the Government has committed to learning lessons and positive progress has been made in this regard. All 170 actions in the implementation plan arising from the scoping inquiry are now completed. The Government is aware that the issues in CervicalCheck in 2018 led to a loss of trust in our screening services and we are working to rebuild trust by working with patients and their advocates to improve and develop services in all our screening programmes.

On 13 January 2022, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Deputy Micheál Martin, the then Taoiseach, issued a formal apology for the hurt experienced by many former residents of mother and baby institutions and county homes. He apologised for the profound generational wrong visited on Irish mothers and their children who ended up in a mother and baby home or a county home and for the shame and stigma which they were subjected to. As part of that apology, it was acknowledged that the State had failed in its duty of care to the mothers and children who spent time in these institutions.

Since January 2021, work has been advanced by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on the Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby Homes and County Home Institutions. The action plan commits to 22 actions across eight main themes.

In addition, in June 2018, on the 25th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, I moved an all-party motion in the Dáil. As part of this motion, a sincere apology was offered to those individuals affected by the criminalisation of homosexual acts in Ireland and the hurt and the harm caused by the legislation was acknowledged. The Government continues to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community in Ireland including through hate crime legislation, the forthcoming ban on conversion practices and improvements to sexual health services.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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In her evidence to the Joint Committee on Health on 31 May, Dr. Marie O'Shea, the author of the report of the review of the operation of the termination of pregnancy Act stated, "if nothing is done, it is only a question of time before we see a repeat of Mellet v. Ireland and Whelan v. Ireland and [a future] Taoiseach standing up in the Dáil to make an apology and pay a sum of money to people". I remind everyone that Mellet v. Ireland and Whelan v. Ireland were two cases taken to United Nations human rights bodies that involved women affected by fatal foetal anomalies, prior to appeal, who were denied access to abortion care in Ireland. In 2016 and 2017, the UN human rights committee found that the State subjected both women to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, discrimination and interference with their right to privacy. Dr. O'Shea believes that the State continues to be in violation of its obligations in this area because the provisions of the 2018 Act are so restrictive and many people in that situation, which is tragic, still find themselves forced to travel to England. The latest statistics show that.

Does the Taoiseach agree with Dr. O'Shea that there is a possibility a future Taoiseach will have to make a State apology to women who are in these very tragic circumstances? How long will the Government continue to bury its head in the sand and refuse to deal with this situation?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The more I reflect on the various State apologies issued, the more I become convinced that the Government does not mean a word of it. Tomorrow we debate the amendments to the mother and baby homes Bill. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, snuck in a number of amendments in the Seanad. In my reading, amendments Nos. 4, 5 and 6 would exclude countless women from the redress scheme who were sent to mother and baby homes to give birth, and had their babies there, but were not held in those mother and baby homes. We know of huge cohorts of those who were born in those homes who will be excluded from the scheme. However, we were promised no mother or child would be excluded from this scheme. This is shocking. These women had their babies and those babies were forcibly removed from their mothers. Those mothers and babies were not held in the homes subsequently but they suffered significant trauma. Is it the Government's intention to exclude these significant cohorts? If it is, does that not contradict the apologies the Government has committed to these people?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to the families, friends and classmates of Max Wall and Andrew O'Donnell. I simply cannot imagine the unbearable sense of loss, tragedy and devastation being felt by their families and friends. I also extend all my sympathy to the St. Michael's school community who have to bear this terrible loss.

Does the Taoiseach think we owe a State apology to families who are homeless through no fault of their own, and children who are now homeless in record numbers and are living in emergency accommodation? These are children and infants who, in many cases, do not have the room to crawl, or cannot bring a friend over for a sleepover or bring home friends to play. Many are showing delays in their development or are embarrassed to tell their friends and classmates that they are living in emergency accommodation and are homeless. What we are doing to children in these circumstances is abuse and neglect by the State; is that not a fair comment? Do they deserve an apology and some sort of urgency on the part of the State? In many cases, these are people who for several years now, as I have told the Taoiseach, have been living in these conditions with absolutely no prospect of being given a place to live.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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One of the areas where the State may be compelled to issue an apology in the future relates to decisions taken during the Covid crisis, in particular, the decisions to prioritise private profit over public health. I will raise the matter of a Covid inquiry, which the Taoiseach was reported as saying will be set up this year and for which the terms of reference are being worked on. Will those terms of reference include the issue of long Covid? Unfortunately, this will be a growing issue. Approximately 10% of all those who get Covid are then affected by long Covid. A recent medical paper suggested that 65 million people worldwide are now suffering from long Covid. It is devastating for some of those people, with incredible levels of fatigue, brain fog, heart problems and all sorts of quite horrendous symptoms. Unless the world begins to act quite differently, this has the potential to be a mass, disabling event. Will long Covid be included in the terms of reference for the Covid inquiry?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for their questions. On the mother and baby homes institutions and the payment scheme in that regard, the establishment of the mother and baby institutional payments scheme is an important commitment in the Government's response to the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters. The scheme we have proposed goes beyond what was recommended both by the commission and the expert group. The payment schemes Bill was published on 17 October 2022, was passed by the Dáil in February, and is currently before the Seanad. We are very keen to get that legislation done as soon as possible in order to have the scheme up and running and to make sure that those entitled to payments receive them. Work is under way on the establishment of an executive office in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to progress the scheme. An implementation steering group has also been established to oversee all aspects of the programme plan.

We have not agreed the terms of reference for a Covid inquiry yet. It is designed to be about the State's response to Covid as regards public health actions taken, the economic response and other responses, to see what was done right and wrong, what could have been done better, and to learn for future pandemics. I do not know whether it would be appropriate to examine long Covid as part of that. It is a condition that is diagnosed as a post-viral syndrome but whether a commission of inquiry is the right way to look at that-----

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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But if you are assessing the overall in terms of what you did during Covid-----

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----I just do not know at this stage.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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-----clearly it has a negative impact.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I just cannot say that at this stage. It certainly will not be ignored.

On the issue of abortion, we live in a democracy. Laws on abortion in Ireland are made by the people, either by the Dáil or by the public through a referendum. A very clear decision was made in 1983, a subsequent decision was made by the public in the 1990s, and a very clear decision was made in 2018 to liberalise our laws, although with certain safeguards that were explained to the public at the time.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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But the law has the review enshrined in it.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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No matter what our laws are going to be in Ireland, there will always be people who think they are too liberal or who think they are too restrictive. People may decide to travel overseas-----

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The review is part of the law. The Taoiseach does not seem to get it.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----to jurisdictions where the laws are more liberal. I accept the review is in the law. I wrote the legislation with the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and his colleagues. I absolutely understand that the review is part of the law. There is no requirement in the law for the Government to implement everything that is in the review, or for Parliament, which will ultimately decide, to do so.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Is there a requirement to ignore it?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of the review is that recommendations are made. Those are then studied, you decide which ones to accept or not, and then act from there. That is how a review works and how it has always worked.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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If you ignore the review, why have it in there?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy should be aware of that.

On the wider issue of homelessness, as I have often said, homelessness is a stain on our society. It is something I and others find deeply shameful. It happens for all sorts of reasons. Of course, a big part of the context is the housing shortage, which makes the situation so much worse. However, other factors are involved, for example, mental health issues and addiction. Family breakdown is one of the biggest causes of homelessness. Increasingly, homelessness is driven by migration. Approximately 40% of people who are homeless and in emergency accommodation are not Irish citizens. To say that the State is 100% to blame for all of that is too simplistic but, of course, the State is responsible for making the situation better in any way it can, by providing more housing, preventing people from falling into homelessness-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Children first.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----in the first place, and then getting them out of homelessness as quickly as we can.

However, it is a complex issue with lots of different issues to be teased out. I met a homeless family in my constituency only a week or two ago. I am doing my best to help them out. Homelessness can mean different things. They are in a two-bedroom apartment that is provided by the council. They do not have to pay any rent for it and they have turned down several offers of housing because they did not find it suitable. That is fair enough, maybe they are not suitable and I can understand why people would turn down offers. However, to say that the State is 100% to blame for everything to do with homelessness is too simplistic and I think the Deputy knows that. However, we are responsible for fixing it and for helping and that is exactly what we-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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There are a lot of people who are just trapped through no fault of their own.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----are doing.

In relation to thalidomide survivors, there is a process of engagement currently under way with at least some of the survivors of thalidomide, although there are different groups and many different individuals involved. Progress has been made with respect to the provision of health and social care assistance to respond to the current and future needs of thalidomide survivors. The Government is committed to focusing on the needs of survivors now and into the future. I want to pick up on something Deputy Andrews said. I want to make it very clear that neither the mothers nor any of the survivors are in any way responsible for what happened to them. I think that is very clear and everyone understands that. The company is responsible for the medicine that was produced. It was not licensed by the State and medicines were not licensed by the State back then in the way that they are now. Compensation is paid by the company. It is an ongoing payment. Ex gratia payments are made by the State. Some have accepted that and some have not. There is a whole package of healthcare, medical and other assistance that is on offer. We encourage survivors to engage with the designated nurse to become aware of what is available to them in terms of healthcare and practical supports. Some have not done so, and I would hate to think that they are being discouraged from doing so in any way. I encourage any survivor to engage with a designated person to find out about all the additional healthcare and other supports that are already available, in addition to the financial compensation.

Certainly, when it comes to an apology, as I said before, I have made apologies in this House as Taoiseach. I have no difficulty making them, but I do know something about making an apology in this House. First, it has to be adequate; the people who receive the apology have to believe that it is adequate and sufficient. Also, it has to be sincere. You cannot apologise for things that did not happen, for example. Getting it right is very important.