Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is very fitting that all the visitors in both Galleries are women. I acknowledge their presence and welcome them. I want to make a shout out to my colleague, Senator Boyhan. His contribution at the outset of this debate was striking and startling. I am always struck by his commitment and passion when he speaks about his own life experiences. I thank him for that.

I thank the Minister for his contributions and for his efforts in respect of the Bill to date. We all know that the Bill is significantly different and hugely improved because of his efforts and those of his officials compared with the commission’s recommendations. I need to reiterate my revulsion at the commission’s report, its deliberately misleading narrative and the huge disservice it did to the witnesses who were so courageous. These were people who were in institutions and the children that were born to them and the people in their families who were courageous enough to give their testimony to that commission and who were let down by a State-appointed body. The Minister took sincere steps to improve the initial offering on the basis that his efforts were going to show our bona fidesand his sincerity was to show people, in the context of this Bill, what we were trying to do to provide reparations for them on foot of what they experienced. We have achieved that up to a point.

Where we fall down is in the context of the 24,000 Irish people who have been left behind. I honestly do not know why they have been left behind. I do not mean this disrespectfully, but I do not see in any of the transcripts or any of the statements that have come from the Minister and the Department any logical reason as to why this is the case. I do not understand the difference between someone who was there a couple of days before the deadline compared with a couple of days after the deadline. There is no scientific evidence or logic for this. Unfortunately, it comes down to the idea that it boils down to money.I hate that. The trauma of being separated from one's mother, must be - I cannot speak from experience - such a difficult journey to navigate no matter what age the truth is discovered. As Senator Higgins stated, I am quite sure that children who left before six months and were fostered or adopted did not find out before six months that that experience had happened to them. We should not think the trauma they experienced when they found out the reality of their lives is a small issue. The Bill as it stands today excludes these people from our apology for their experience, from an acknowledgement of the trauma of their experience and it will certainly hinder any recovery journey they may be going through. We are compounding the hurt and trauma they have been through. I know that is not the Government's intention so I am asking the Minister with our support - I hope I have the support of all our colleagues - to go back to the Government, to my and his Cabinet colleagues and ask them not to leave anyone behind and to recognise the hurt we have caused in recent months since this Bill was brought through the Dáil. I ask him to recognise the opportunity we have. He has my full support and I am sure he has the support of everyone else here.

I am not sure I understand why we have excluded the mothers from the medical card offering. Trauma does not necessarily happen at the time of an experience. It might happen many moons later. We should probably try to revisit that.

Last week President Biden was in town and it was an uplifting experience. In a speech outside the cathedral in Mayo, my boss, Deputy Varadkar, stated:

...we must rededicate ourselves to playing our part in the fight between darkness and light, in the fight between despair and hope, injustice and dignity. We must pray for the wisdom to guide us, the words to speak up for those without a voice and shield to protect our planet and do what is the right thing.

In his utterances about this Bill in the past 12 months, the Minister has been determined that we want to act with kindness and absolutely do no harm. The harm was done when the State allowed psychological, physical and sexual abuse including degrading and dehumanising behaviour. That was all handed out in the homes. If we do not want to do any more harm, we must decide what we will do at the crossroads we are at today. My other colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, announced eye-watering figures of financial expectations yesterday. The one thing I know is that we are not short of money. I ask my Government to play a part in that fight against darkness and despair. I hope we treat people with justice and dignity because we have the opportunity to do so right now. Other Governments have failed these people through the State's involvement. We are at a crossroads where we should not fail anyone and we should not leave anyone behind.