Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I apologise to the Minister for being unable to attend the Second Stage debate yesterday. I thank him for his substantive engagement with Members in this and the other House on the details of the Bill. While I am sympathetic to the amendments we are discussing, I also acknowledge the political reality the Minister is facing and the need to progress the legislation. A great deal of good will come from the passing of the Bill as it is. We should not, however, see it as the end of the road when it comes to dealing with this problem. The debate we have had could be the beginning of a journey for those people who are excluded from the current process. I note the Minister's indication yesterday that should extra moneys be available, he will consider the possibility of broadening the eligibility criteria. We must, as part of the healing process to which Senator Fidelma Healy Eames referred, seek to reach out to people who are suffering and who, for one reason or another, did not apply to the original redress scheme and are therefore ineligible for assistance under the fund.

These amendments are welcome in that they allow us an opportunity to debate the issues. At the same time, we are anxious to have the legislation in place without delay. In that context, I ask the Minister to repeat as firmly as he can that the door is not shut on those persons who are excluded from the system. As Senators Marie Moloney and David Norris observed, not everybody will wish to seek assistance and we cannot categorise everybody as the same. We live in a marvellously diverse world where different people seek different solutions. Nevertheless, we have received strong written representations, e-mails and telephone calls from people who are genuinely hurt more than angry and are looking for redress and support. The signal should go out from the debate today that we are not shutting down the prospect of support for these people. While we are providing assistance to certain people within certain categories, we recognise that there may be others who remain excluded and we will seek to assist them as soon as possible. I know the Minister is sympathetic to people in that position and will do his best to assist them. Those who have lived without hope for most of their life should be given some degree of optimism for the future.