In so far as I can recollect, all the Opposition parties agreed with the proposals, as outlined in the Residential Institutions Redress Act, to establish such a scheme. Should the Government have done nothing because the exact final outcome of the level of compensation could not be accurately assessed? Should the fact that the final cost could not be estimated accurately and precisely have prevented the Government from doing anything? I do not believe so. The Government considered that the setting up of a system of redress for victims was the right thing to do. There was a serious humanitarian and legal problem crying out for a solution and the Government provided the response to that problem. The only alternative to a redress scheme was to continue to require the victims of abuse to sue through the courts. This was not acceptable to Government for a number of reasons: victims would have to face traumatic cross-examination by lawyers; it would have taken many years for the courts to finish hearing 2,000 to 4,000 cases; and having gone through that trauma the likelihood is that many of the cases would have failed in the courts because of the lapse of time since the abuse occurred.