Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the fact we are debating Second Stage of the Bill and will for a moment focus on its many positives. I am conscious, as many of us are, of the significant work the Minister has undertaken to get it to where it is. My good friend Mags McKinney is with us in the Gallery today. Her mother, Rose, was a resident in the Tuam mother and baby home on two separate occasions. Even though Rose is now getting on in years and would have liked to be here today, she feels she is beginning to be recognised for the experiences that were forced on her by the Ireland of the not-too-distant past. Their activism and that of so many others, and their perseverance over the past two decades, have brought us to where we are now in debating this redress scheme. It is important to acknowledge that the political system has finally responded to those many years of calling for recognition and justice.

While we very much welcome the Bill, it is sad and frustrating that it falls short on what many of us consider to be fundamental issues of recognition. There are significant questions to be asked - they are already being asked - about the scientific basis for determining six months as the point at which harm and trauma began to be experienced, and the same is true of ignoring the experiences of those in boarding-out arrangements or those caught up in illegal adoptions. Up to 40% of survivors will now be excluded by the six-month requirement. There are significant issues arising from the bitter taste this redress Bill and its enactment over the coming months will leave in the mouths of so many. We cannot claim this is a comprehensive recognition of the hurt and trauma inflicted by our State, by those running institutions on behalf of our State and by religious bodies in the past. In effect, the State is saying there are deserving survivors and undeserving survivors. It is a source of great sadness that we are reinforcing through the Bill the hurt so many have endured over many years in that failure to be recognised.

The Labour Party will be making submissions. We watched with great care and interest the debate in the Dáil. We believe this House should debate amendments to the Bill and we very sincerely ask the Minister to consider them when Committee Stage is tabled. There is a significant opportunity to get the redress scheme right and ensure the bitter taste that is in the mouths of so many will not remain. We must properly recognise the trauma and hurt being experienced by thousands.