Averil Power (Fianna Fail)

They have not accepted the principle that they should. I would go further. It is ten years since this process started. It took a long time before the journey started. It was a long journey for the survivors in the Visitors' Gallery to get an apology from the Taoiseach. The then Taoiseach apologised in 1999. The redress board was set up under the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002. Ten years later, the religious orders still have not accepted the principle of redress.

Nobody wants to bankrupt the religious orders, but as the Minister rightly said they have assets which should be transferred without further delay. No amount of money can make up for the horrors that children were subjected to both at the hands of religious orders and as I said from the State. It is an utter disgrace that the Minister still has to talk to them at this stage and we are debating legislation to provide for a statutory fund to which they still have not contributed their share.

This is a disgrace. All parties should publicly state that they will back up the Minister and tell the orders to do the right thing.