Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

One could not but be moved following the statements made about the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. Looking at the facial expressions of Members in the Chamber, there was almost a crucified look on them, which is indicative of the trauma being felt in the community at the moment. Like other speakers, I do not believe that the report will go away in a short time. It will haunt us as a people for years to come.

That said, I hope it challenges us at the same time. There is a danger that as the emotion dies down after a few months, we may still be left with little action to show how sincere we were in our response to the suffering of those innocent victims. We were all struck by the apportioning of blame, which will go on for a period, between the religious orders, the State, society and so on. Gradually we will tease out and analyse this situation.

We are all well aware that many of the unfortunate victims should never have been in these institutions in the first place. Most were sent at the whim of some official in the community at the time. There will be legislative requirements. I was taken by Senator Harris's suggestion of a human reaction to show we have moved on and have improved as a caring society. There are many people in prison who should not be. We have had the classic case of an unfortunate woman who was imprisoned for stealing a bottle of milk. We have had a case of a pregnant mother having to give birth to her child in prison. All this is wrong, and if we do not show a human, compassionate, caring response, then all the emotion we have had in this House and the haunting we have received from this report will be lost. I sincerely support Senator Harris's suggestion of an amnesty for those type of people who should not be in prison. Perhaps we could all could come forward with other, perhaps unorthodox, examples to show we have moved on and we have improved as a caring society.