Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I wish to propose an amendment to the Order of Business, namely, to allow the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, to come to the House to respond to the outcome of the deliberations of the Irish Human Rights Commission. It decided that we should establish a statutory mechanism to investigate the matters advanced by the Justice for Magdalenes group. It would be an appropriate opportunity for the Minister to redress the situation. The statement is significant. We all have a responsibility to apologise for what happened to young people in Magdalene laundries. Justice should be done in that case.

It was said by a Member in the Dáil on 17 December 2009 that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform had irrefutable knowledge of the Magdalene asylum, as it was called, and that action should be taken in that regard because the treatment was appalling. That Member was Deputy Alan Shatter. I hope his actions speak louder than his words in that regard. I see from his website that he looks forward with hope. I hope the people who were affected by being in the laundries can look forward with some hope, and that he will give them hope.

The previous Government took action in that regard through the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, but that was in advance of the decision of the United Nations committee. The circumstances have changed for the Government in that regard. The residents involved in the Justice for the Magdalenes group were used as slaves and ill treated. There is no question about that. When the Minister was his party spokesperson on justice in 2009, he stated categorically in the Dáil that the evidence is irrefutable. He put that on the record. I will elaborate further on the matter if the Minister is allowed to come to the House today to discuss the issue. I am sure he would be delighted to get an opportunity to put on the record the decision in that regard that the Cabinet presumably made when it met this morning. Let the Minister come to the House later this evening to make a statement on the matter. Let the House be relevant.