Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join other Members in thanking the survivors, the Irish First Mothers group, the adoptees and the human rights activists who have driven and demanded action on this issue. We owe them thanks because they have driven us to try to become a better State. I thank them for that. We owe them the absolute best response but, unfortunately, the scheme as it is set out now is not the absolute best response.

It is very important that we resist the narrative of there having been good actors and bad actors within these institutions and the idea that people may have had a good or a bad experience. The key thing is that this was institutional abuse.