Feargal Quinn (Independent)

The abuse we read about in recent days has horrified us. Those of us who knew something about it and had covered some of it earlier had no idea of the extent of it. It is interesting to be reminded that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin had warned us of how serious this report would be. We welcome the opportunity to debate it tomorrow. The onus is on us to do that.

I was impressed by what Senator Mullen said. There is also a balance to be achieved. Many generations have received an education from a very large number of perfectly judged nuns, priests and members of religious orders. We must not disturb the balance by forgetting that they gave us our education. The religious orders were responsible for a high proportion of our education. I accept we have been let down by some of them but let us get the balance in proportion and not make the mistake of suggesting that everybody was at fault.

I read an interesting letter in The Irish Times yesterday, which was only one such letter among approximately ten. It was from a man who wrote about the wonderful education he had received and how much he and his large family had achieved. He finished by asking that we should please not tar all these fine men with the same brush. That is the balance that I would like to ensure we achieve and I hope we achieve it tomorrow. It is important we debate the report tomorrow and that we do not hide it, but let us get the balance right also.

Reference was made to a publication last month that showed that e.coli levels in Irish water was 30 times the UK level. That is very serious because the figures that were given indicated that approximately 5% of samples taken from public water supplies were contaminated with e.coli and approximately 90% of the population gets its water from public supplies. It is important that we find time to debate the issue. We have had problems in the past in various parts of the country, particularly Galway.