Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I, too, add my voice to what was said about the reports on Tuam, the babies that were sold to America and beyond, those who were neglected by the order and those who were left to die for the want of medicines. That is shocking and people want to get to the bottom of it, but what is also shocking is the current foster care system whereby 5,000 children are awaiting assessment. At the same time as people are looking at what happened in Tuam and feel helpless and hopeless, there are children who need fostering. That is what citizens can do now to help. The situation concerning Grace is a modern day case similar to what happened in Tuam. Now it is individual cases instead of hundreds but there are hundreds of young people similar to Grace, children who need our help.

Senator Alice-Mary Higgins mentioned Marie Collins. She is another example of how institutions do not want to reform, do not want change and do not want people to be brought to account. If those children were dying in Tuam today, the people in charge would not go to prison. The Corporate Manslaughter Bill is before the House. If enacted, people with responsibility who do not take action would go to prison but because that is not the case those at the top do not care, do not have to care and are not made accountable for their inaction.

I beg the Leader's indulgence in relation to an anniversary that falls today. Today is 7 March, the anniversary of the first flying of the Tricolour from 33 The Mall in Waterford. I ask that we take No. 33, motion No. 19, on the Order Paper, adopting the protocols on the Irish flag that were drawn up by the Taoiseach's Department. The man who first flew the flag, Thomas Francis Meagher, had an extraordinary life. Not only did he participate in a rebellion in Ireland in 1848, but he was the last man sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered here. Prior to sentencing the judge asked him if he had anything to say, to which he replied: "Well your honour, if you do not sentence me to death, I will try again." The judge obliged and sentenced him to death but it was commuted to transportation for life to Australia and he ended up in the 69th regiment of the Union Army in the American Civil War and became governor of Montana. For the historical record of the House, the flag that is flying today over Leinster House was first flown from 33 The Mall in Waterford. The Ceann Comhairle presented it to the Defence Forces and they undertook that today would be the first day they would fly it from Leinster House.