Sean Barrett (Independent)

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Quinn, to the House. I have had the pleasure of knowing him for many years. Like Senator Cullinane, I fear so much of this is still unresolved that we may find ourselves back here again because even more scandals will have been unearthed. Like Senator Crown, I appreciate the Minister is seeking to draw a line under this but we do not know what lurks around the corner. Only yesterday, we saw in a court case with regard to County Donegal that nobody in the Garda or education seemed to be alert to what had been going on over many years.

Judge Yvonne Murphy submitted her report on Cloyne on 23 December last, and on page 88 of that report she found the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs claimed legal privilege over advice the Child Care Act was not limited to cases of intra-familial abuse. The former Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs claimed privilege over this advice and refused to provide it to the commission. This seems like people looking the other way or finding excuses or legal loopholes and not putting children first, as I know the Minister does so staunchly.

We face failures of governance rather than government, and this is also why the country had to be rescued on 1 December last. No Minister ever came to the House to condone what was going on in these institutions but many other people must have known. Page 307 of the Murphy report on Cloyne states the commission was very concerned that the Department of Education and Science could have misunderstood the terms of reference in the manner described. I am afraid many adult members of society are still covering up. What will happen when the next diocese report is published? Raphoe and Derry have been mentioned in this context.

The report on Cloyne refers to boarding schools which seem to come within the definition of "residential institutions". Most unsavoury incidents have been reported from boarding schools in the Cloyne diocese in Judge Murphy's report. What will we find when we go to other dioceses which also have boarding schools? I presume the victims were somewhat older than the people on whose behalf the Minister has been working in the legislation.

Yet again the call must go out, with the Minister taking the lead and Parliament supporting him, that we must stop the nods and winks and condoning behaviour which we all condemn at moments such as this but which happens again. I do not know how to get the message to all educational institutions, Departments and Garda divisions in the country that we have had enough of this and that we do not want find out yet again in a court case or a report that it is continuing to the present day.

The fact that the Cloyne report was presented to the Minister last December is what makes me wary about putting a deadline on this. I support the Minister personally in what he is trying to do. It is a mark of shame on an adult society that we keep unearthing these appalling situations where people have not put children first but put legal loopholes first or stated it is not their job to work on it and meanwhile children suffer. This cannot be allowed to persist.