Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

This is a terrible time for the people. I have reflected on the matter and there is a link between the flooding crisis that has befallen the people in the past week and the thousands of Irish children that have been abused by the church throughout the generations. The link is denial and neglect. The attitude was that if we do not talk about it, it might go away. In both cases, the Government has failed to put adequate solutions in place to prevent either occurrence from taking place again. With regard to child abuse, as of yet there has been no debate on the implementation plan for the Ryan report. There is no mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse yet. The child protection guidelines are still not on a statutory footing. This means that children remain at risk. There is a story in today's Irish Independent which appears under the headline "Cover-up clergymen to get off the hook". Is the Murphy report adequate in the context of its being used to convict those named as having abused children and individuals identified as having colluded in the cover-up of such abuse?

In recent days I witnessed the misery, despair and shock experienced by those affected by flooding. Many of these individuals fought against the floods on their own because State services were not adequate. Last week I asked the Leader the reason the Taoiseach had not mobilised the Army, which contains 8,000 people trained to provide assistance when natural disasters occur. However, I did not receive an answer. Why has the Taoiseach failed to mobilise the Army? Why was the fire service in Galway not utilised, particularly when it was used in other counties? What is going on? Do people not realise that abject misery and financial distress are affecting many?

How are individuals to access financial support, other than through the means-tested route or by seeking assistance from community welfare officers? What is being done is simply not adequate. The roads in front of people's homes have been completely destroyed. I look forward to hearing the Leader's answers to my questions.