Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Many years ago a political leader in this country said that the issue of contraception would be dealt with when a united Ireland had been achieved. It is always easy in tough economic times in particular to put issues such as this on the back burner with the reasonable excuse that the country is in crisis and more important things need to be dealt with. It is a mark of the commitment of the Government and the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, that we have arrived at a symbolic moment when we begin to regard and treat children in a new way. We all agree it is high time we drew a line in the sand over the shameful history of how we have treated children and in particular those children who have looked to the State for support.

This debate on the amendment has demonstrated that even in periods of economic distress, change is possible. I hope this will be the first in a series of measures which the Government will take to bring about fundamental change in Irish society. I thank the Minister and her staff. I have dealt with members of her staff in the past year and I know of the effort and energy they have expended on this process and on the entire agenda dealing with children. I refer to the role of the NGOs and Senator van Turnhout and the role of other Members of the Oireachtas over many years. I refer in particular to my colleague, Senator Bacik, for her role.

I have two issues which I hope the Minister will consider. I raised the issue of the Magdalene women and those who endured Bethany Home. To really draw a line in the sand under our shameful past, we must offer a genuine apology to those people who suffered, with real compensation and a recognition of their suffering. My final point was alluded to by the Minister in the course of the debate in response to one of Senator Rónán Mullen's amendments.

It relates to our treatment of the children of marital and non-marital families and the provision in the draft adoption legislation to extend the period for consideration of the adoption of all children. I have a grave concern in this regard, namely, that while we were prepared to accept a timeframe of 12 months in respect of the children of non-marital families, it is now proposed, because we are considering the position of marital families, to extend that time limit to three years. I do not know whether there is scope at this stage for the Minister to reflect on this anomaly. There is an onus on us to ensure there is no continuation of the shameful treatment to which non-marital families were sometimes exposed in the past.