Maurice Hayes (Independent)

I, too, spent last night reading the Ferns report. I did not sleep and I think I will sleep less tonight. It reminds me of a task I had years ago, reading the evidence of the Kincora inquiry which contained similar matters. I thank God for people like Bishop Walsh, Mr. Colm O'Gorman and those who had the courage to come forward and deal with this. It would be worthwhile looking at the experience in the North because we have been through this mill with many cases. In particular, the police there have developed good techniques, with women police, for dealing with children who have been abused.

This is a sorry tale of abuse going on over years and of failure of governance. While we should debate it, one of the elements I would council against is a knee-jerk reaction to rush into legislation. When there is an outrage of some kind there is a demand for emergency legislation. There is a reaction in one's imagination similar to that following the tragedy on 11 September 2001, but almost always one finds in retrospect that the subsequent legislation has been ill-conceived, cobbled together and has not met the need. We want to get this right.