Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to thank the Minister for coming to the House; he is always welcome here. I recognise that we have a job to do and he has a job to do. I also want to acknowledge the frankness and honesty of the Minister both in his radio interview on RTÉ's "Morning Ireland" this morning, which was refreshing. It was simply honest, and it may have made the Minister appear vulnerable. I think this is the measure of a good politician - a politician who can come back and say that perhaps we underestimated this and are slightly overwhelmed, and did not anticipate the hurt involved. However the Minister has acknowledged it, and that takes courage, which I admire, and I thank him for doing so.

I also want to acknowledge what the Minister said in his opening statement. Amendment Nos. 1 and 7 are helpful, and clearly demonstrate that the Minister has been listening. However, we are where we are. A woman called me this morning to tell me that she was very disappointed, and I told her that she should not be, because it has been a long road for many people. To sum it up, it is lived experiences, a life's journey and a life's work. For some, in these last few days, they consider this to be one of the last opportunities for them to do this work. Some of them may be 70 or 80 years of age. Everyone in this House will have received emails and telephone calls from heartbroken people.

I commend the interviewer who interviewed the Minister this morning on RTÉ's "Morning Ireland" and posed a number of questions, which I wrote down. She asked the Minister whether the State has let these people down. The State has let these people down, and the Minister did apologise for it. However, apologies are no good for these people. They have had a lifetime of betrayals, hurt and isolation, being vulnerable and being picked up, dropped and rejected so many times, through the church, education, schools, the Government, services, adoption agencies, social workers, and in the last few years, through Tusla.They do not feel respected or valued. It is a sad day but I am not going to give up because it is a really important day. It is a turning point for those of us who are strong and able to carry on. We must carry on. We will have our day. The 4,000 page document will come back before us, as the Minister said, and we will call for him to come back before the House and we will discuss it. No doubt there will be many more tears by politicians and people will say they underestimated. I can tell the Minister that in four, five, or six weeks, we will be going through some of the most harrowing stories and we need to prepare for that.

We are where we are. Dáil Éireann passed the Government Bill last night by 78 votes to 67. The Government parties did not allow a free vote on the legislation. In a democracy, on an issue of such importance, the Government parties whipped their members to vote. None were able to vote against it or had the courage to stand up alone and walk away and be brave, because some of them told me that they would lose the Whip. That is a very sad state of affairs in our democracy. There were more than 60 Opposition amendments, every one rejected by the Minister. We have to deal with that. The Minister has said, in response to the amendments, that a copy will go to the Department. All the victims and survivors wanted was for it to go to the Department in the first place. They did not want it to go to Tusla. Those 60 Opposition amendments tabled last night in the Dáil were the words and aspirations of survivors and victims. The Opposition politicians did not make them up. They transcribed and interpreted the responses, engaged with their electorate and their communities, and brought that to the table. Not only were the politicians rejected, but the wishes they expressed on behalf of victims and survivors were rejected too. People feel disempowered. It is a setback. I recognise the significance of the Minister's two amendments and thank him for acknowledging, even at this late stage, that he could have done it differently.