Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I have raised the Ryan report with the Leader on a number of occasions. It is far more important for the House to reconvene to deal with that than some of the issues that are being dealt with on 14 and 15 July. The Leader is organising business in his own way and I do not object to that but this is a crucial matter. I do not know if people realise what is happening on this issue. People whose relatives were the victims described in the Ryan report still cannot get information. I was talking to people recently who sought further information from an order of nuns about their sister, who was a victim. All they received was a solicitor's letter.

It was great to hear the Sisters of Charity apologise on the record yesterday. One felt a sense of relief that it was done; it was very welcome. However, that is the exception. Other orders are still pursuing a closed door policy and will not share information or deal with people who are still trying to cope with grief, and the victims and their families who are seeking further information about what happened. They are not being supportive. We need to deal with this. I know people whose sibling died in one of these institutions. They do not know how to seek justice or how to deal with issues such as exhumation. They do not know where they need to go for information, who has the records or whether they can get access to them. There are groups of people who had no contact with the Ryan commission, and that is no reflection on the commission, who are in the same situation. I ask the Leader to arrange a discussion on deaths in institutions. As I pointed out yesterday, children in Goldenbridge died but there is no reference in the Ryan report to them. This is an example of how this issue must be taken further.

With regard to the Lisbon treaty, the Minister should come to the House and outline the initiative the Government has in place to explain and sell the treaty to the people of Ireland. I would like to contribute my tuppence worth somewhere along the way. I am a member of a trade union group that is supportive of the treaty, and other groups in favour of the Lisbon treaty have been formed. That is the way democracy should work but the Government should outline in detail how it will sell the treaty, the process it will follow, what is involved in the initiative, what type of campaign it has in mind and where we can fit into it.

I acknowledge the good work the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs did in Europe. When this argument was taking place last year the big problem was what the treaty meant. People felt that it meant something that worried them considerably. They were entitled to feel that. They now have a legal explanation of what it means, and that is as it should be. In responding to people who say there is no change in the treaty the Government should point out there is no change and that there will not, should not and cannot be any change. It has said that all along. The only issue is what it means. If people are reassured by that, fine; if not, they will have to vote against it. However, it is important this fact is recognised.