Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

I agree with many of the comments expressed regarding the revelations of the Ryan report. There is no doubt it exceeded even our worst fears. All of us will endeavour to get behind the report and try to understand in some small way the terrible suffering through which these innocent children were put. These children were already deprived of a normal, loving family life and then placed into a brutal regime, for the most trivial of reasons. These were innocent youngsters and should not be thought of as children who had to be put into that type of institution.

Those people who perpetrated these terrible acts have not only done terrible damage to these young lives, but they have done terrible damage to the good name of Ireland, to the religious orders and the church to which they professed loyalty. They wanted to have a vocation and to be fully part of that type of life. One is reminded of the fate the founder of the Christian religion described would await those who scandalised little children in any way. I find it impossible to understand how anybody set out to dedicate their life to that religion and then prostituted - in every sense of the word - the very basic tenet of that religion.

I agree with Senator Mullen that we must first think of the victims. One can only imagine what they have suffered for several decades, when they felt they were absolutely and utterly ignored. Very often, their plaintive pleas were not even heard or acknowledged. We have a report now and some feel that is progress, but others feel it is not. The fact that some of the victims were not allowed into the press conference yesterday tells us something. It would have been possible to get a bigger room. Those victims should have been a central part of the conference.

I agree with the point made by Senator Norris that as a result of what has happened, all those who did good in religious orders are now painted with the same brush. I know we will all look back over our childhood to see if we can remember something that was inappropriate at the time. I was a pupil of the Irish Christian Brothers, but in all my life I never noticed anything that was inappropriate and never heard anything being said against them. When we had a reunion of Christian Brothers' pupils, they came from all over the world to express their gratitude. While it is not for today, it is important we have balance.

Today we must concentrate on the victims. One of the most telling pictures I saw in the paper were the little gravestones of young people who had died while they were in these institutions. One can only imagine, never understand, the trauma they suffered. I compliment Mr. Justice Ryan and all those who sat on the commission. There is no doubt, they have done something vital. We must, once and for all, try to eradicate this from the Irish system. We must not only ensure it does not happen again, but go beyond that and legislate in such a way as to ensure it cannot ever happen again.