Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

This goes to the core of what the commission is trying to achieve and what it can and cannot do. It has been examined in considerable detail by Mr. Justice Ryan in his review of the commission. He looked at other child abuse inquiries in other countries to see how they had dealt with the issue. His views on the subject, which are reflected in this legislation, have been published. The purpose of the Government in setting up the commission, and indeed that of Mr. Justice Ryan, was that it should determine what happened and what was so wrong in society and in its institutions at the time that allowed it to happen. It does not focus on individual wrongdoers to discover cases of abuse but on the general situation. If it were to seek to discover cases of abuse then that would involve criminal trials. We would end up turning 1,300 cases into mini-trials and that is not what the commission is being established for. If it names individuals it would have to deal with people trying to defend themselves and clear their name regarding events over the past 40 years. He has said he will stick to naming people who have already been found guilty. It is important to separate the criminal from the commission. It is not necessary or desirable, from the point of what this commission is trying to achieve, to start naming individuals. We want to know what happened, why it happened and how we can make sure it does not happen again. If people wish to take criminal proceedings, the courts are the place for that, not the commission.