Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish all my colleagues and the Leader a happy International Women's Day. Personally, I have enjoyed the support of my male colleagues not just in this House but in the other House and on committees. We work in a wonderful environment but we clearly have a long way to go.

Today, I ask the Leader for her support and that of colleagues again for an issue I have raised here previously. We passed a motion on the matter last November. In what is one of the most cynical moves we have seen, the board of management of St. John Ambulance has decided to publish a long-awaited report on 16 March, which is the day before our bank holiday and during a week when every single Minister will probably be out of the country and we will all be in our communities and not in these Houses. I think this move is deplorable. I ask my colleagues to stand in solidarity and to be vocal and outspoken for and on behalf of the more than 100 gentlemen who went to Dr. Geoffrey Shannon and gave testimony of their experiences at the hands of key personnel in St. John Ambulance of sexual abuse and violence many years ago. Let us make sure we stand with those gentlemen next week so that they are not left isolated and standing on their own without anybody watching them. We have gotten to know all of them really well over the last couple of months. Mick Finnegan has held a vigil outside of the headquarters of St. John Ambulance for nearly 16 days. He has been ignored by people walking in and out of that building day and day out. Many of us have stood in solidarity with him and will continue to do so. I want to put it on the record of this House - I hope the trustees are listening - that doing what they are doing next week is an absolutely despicable act of contempt for the people they are supposed to be minding and looking after. From our perspective, I would like to make sure the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has the essential services ready to go next week when the report is received at 8 a.m. on 16 March by the 100 or so victims who have given their testimony of experiences. We need to make sure we are ready to support them as a State and not just as a political movement.