Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

Senator Fitzgerald levelled accusations at the Labour Party to which I wish to respond. The motivation of the Labour Party is to ensure the victims of abuse carried out in religious institutions are compensated and their concerns addressed. The issue is not one of money but timely and appropriate recompense by those responsible for abuse. As an Opposition party, we also have a duty to hold the Government to account for its actions on this issue, as do backbench Members of the Government parties. The issues we have raised have been backed up by the Comptroller and Auditor General's report presented last week to the Committee of Public Accounts, Ms Justice Laffoy's correspondence with the Department, and Government Ministers, especially the former Attorney General and current Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell. We have raised valid concerns about the way in which the deal on indemnity was handled by the Government.

Senator Maurice Hayes welcomed the Government's decision to assume liability. The difficulty relates to the terms of the deal because the Government assumed liability on behalf of the taxpayer. We also raised concerns about the manner in which the Laffoy commission has been obstructed in its work. As these are a matter of public record, I do not propose to address them in detail. We have, however, been raising the issue of the reckless indemnity deal since the details first emerged more than a year ago.

The contributions of Senator Fitzgerald and the Minister have shown again that the Government has still not accepted responsibility for its actions, which does not augur well as regards where we go from here. The Government response remains contradictory and demonstrates, through its counter accusations and avoidance of responsibility, the confusion of which Senator Fitzgerald accused the Opposition.

The Minister mentioned the Taoiseach's apology which appeared to be genuine and is to be commended. It has not, however, been backed up by the Government's response in the intervening four years. My colleague, the leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Rabbitte, noted the contradiction in its approach by, on the one hand, assuming open-ended responsibility in terms of the indemnity for the abuse by those in religious institutions while, on the other, obstructing to the point of collapse the work of the commission it established to inquire into child abuse.