Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the publication yesterday by the Minister, Deputy Burton, of the Bill for gender recognition, which will finally provide a way in which transgender persons can achieve recognition of their gender. This Bill has been a long time coming. There was a very detailed consultation process, and I very much look forward to having a debate on it in this House, but we need to move on also with seeking to legalise marriage for same-sex couples because without that it is difficult to see how the new gender recognition legislation will apply to persons who are already married. That has been a real obstacle in trying to achieve the final drafting of that Bill. In a way that issue has been left unresolved pending the referendum on marriage equality that we all hope will happen next year.

I also welcome the publication this week of the new Bill on assisted decision-making and capacity to replace a very outdated wards of court system dating back to 1871. We have had extensive hearings on that in the justice committee on the previous heads of a Bill. Again, it has been a long time coming and I am glad to see it has been published. I hope we will debate it early in the autumn.

I call on the Leader for a debate, as other Members have done, on the Magdalen institutions but in particular on ways in which religious orders might be compelled legally to provide contributions to the redress fund. The Taoiseach and others have said rightly that there does not appear to be any way legally to compel them but a creative debate on ways in which compulsion could be brought to bear would be very useful. Today's edition of The Irish Times reports that the assets of the four religious orders that ran the Magdalen laundries, and profited for many years from the slave labour of the women incarcerated there, on the last occasion they were valued, were worth €1.5 billion. It is clear there are assets available and it seems extraordinary that there is no legal way for the State to compel some sort of recovery from those religious orders of the moneys that will be expended on the redress scheme, given the extent of those assets.

I call for a debate in the autumn on the MABS service in light of the worrying delays reported in accessing MABS, particularly with the new insolvency legislation coming into place. Increasing numbers of people will be looking for the services of MABS and it is a worry to hear there are real inconsistencies in the length of time people must wait for an appointment with MABS across the country. Some of it may be to do with management in particular offices but if there is a resourcing issue we need to examine that. I ask the Leader for a debate on that again early in the autumn.