Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 7, to delete all words from and including "but" in line 42 down to and including "abuse" in line 44.

The Bill provides that an alleged abuser will only be identified if he or she has been previously found guilty in respect of an offence involving abuse. I ask the Minister to outline carefully the reasoning behind this change. The amendment will limit the commission's discretion in respect of naming persons who have been convicted of an offence of child abuse in a case being heard before it or otherwise.

While I acknowledge that Mr. Justice Ryan is of the view that the commission of inquiry should focus primarily on malfunctioning in the system rather than on individual wrongdoers, I request additional clarification on how the needs and wishes of victims will be assured under the terms of this legislation. There are some 1,300 cases before the commission at present. The representative groups of the victims are hopeful that individual findings will be made. It was clear from last night's radio programme that the person being interviewed could name neither her abusers, of which there were many, nor the institutions in which she had been abused. She would have been relieved to be able to name the institutions and her abusers but was prevented from doing so.