Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I share all the concerns and frustrations that have been well aired. I spoke to the Minister about this. This is not how I would like us to do our business. A matter of this seriousness and importance should not be rushed in any way. The survivors and everybody involved have been waiting far too long for justice and reparation. As we have already had a few hours of debate on it, I will not rehearse those lines.

I welcome that the Minister has listened to some of what we said on Wednesday. I am encouraged that he is talking to the Attorney General to try to find a way to accommodate some of the reasonable, fair and legitimate requests.We all agree it is very important that all the data, documents and records are preserved and protected unredacted. It is essential for integrity that the records are kept in one set. Then, if there is to be a separate database, as is proposed, it should be a duplicate. For the archive to have integrity, it must be kept intact. There must be one set of it intact. I heard the Minister's earlier comments that he will examine the waiving of anonymity and potentially will bring forward amendments next week to the Dáil. That is welcome. One of my other requests was that an anonymised index of the archive would be produced and released. I hope that is something the Minister is trying to progress in his discussions with the Attorney General and his Government partners. Perhaps he could give the House some indication on that request.

I have mentioned a proposal that has been made, and I believe the Minister has received it. It is a concept proposal at present for the former Magdalen laundry site on Sean McDermott Street by the Adoption Rights Alliance and Dr. Maeve O'Rourke. The doors of the laundry on Sean McDermott Street were closed in 1996 and it was 1998 when the site was handed over by way of reparation to the State. The city council holds it in trust. The Government can take the initiative to work with the city council. The concept proposal for that site provides a great opportunity to offer meaningful reparation by creating an appropriate memorialisation on the site of the Magdalen laundry, as well as of all the industrial schools and other institutions. It can create a site which survivors and historians can visit. For members of the public, it can be a site for learning and reparation. I urge the Minister to champion that proposal with the city council and his Government partners, in order that it can be moved from a concept to reality.