Ivana Bacik (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have not yet spoken to this group of amendments but like Senator Craughwell I have listened to the lengthy debate we have had. I have certainly found some powerful arguments on both sides. In response to some of the Government Senators, I say that this is not just a technical Bill about a database. The debate has really illustrated how much more important this debate is and how much more important is the substance of the Bill for the many people affected by it.

This database refers to records and personal information pertaining to the identities and early lives of individuals and people who are deceased but whose families are desperate to know more about them and their identities. I have already read the record from the Department's document, which it supplied this morning, and it indicates there are over 60,000 such records. This is a major array of personal information about individual identities and lives. It is very important to say that.

The nature of the amendments, the dialogue we have had and the Minister's response to Senator McDowell about the confidential committee and its relationship to the database illustrate the need to give more time to this Bill. I appeal to the Minister, as others, including Senator Craughwell, have done, to give this more time and not to rush to Report Stage today. The deadline of the end of October can be extended and there have been extensions already at the behest of the commission to enable it to carry out its work adequately. There is a very strong case to be made for a short extension, which means the need for the urgency to pass the Bill would be removed.

Senator McDowell speaks about the need to respect confidentiality commitments. As Senators Ruane and Higgins have said, those who gave evidence before the confidential committee did not have an option not to give the information in confidence. Drawing on my experience, having represented survivors of institutional abuse before the redress board, I know those people were under gagging orders and they could not speak publicly about what had happened with the redress board and so on. That was an incredibly diminishing and frustrating experience for them.

What we have heard from the many people who have been in touch with us, including by email and in conversation, is that many individuals have harrowing stories and they are crying out for those stories to be heard. They want those experiences to be disclosed. Regretfully, I will oppose the amendments moved by Senator McDowell.

As I have said, these matters are complex, as we can see by the fact we have spent so long debating them. On the Opposition benches many of us are conflicted. I listened to Senator Boyhan's incredibly powerful testimony and I pay tribute, as others have done, to the Senator for disclosing his personal experience so eloquently and powerfully. If nothing else demonstrates the need for a pause in this rushed and hasty process, the debate on this group of amendments does that.