Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief because I believe Senator Black articulated that very well. This is a particularly important amendment. It comes from a great deal of engagement. I also thank Senator Higgins, who cannot be with us today. We have talked so much about racial discrimination in recent years. Historically, we know that many children in care suffered racial discrimination. When we have engaged with such people, we have found that they were deeply hurt and damaged by their experiences, but this was an added layer. There was a feeling that somehow it was not being acknowledged. They acknowledged that things moved on in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s but, historically, they were vulnerable.

These people were different anyway. They felt different. They were vulnerable. They were clearly different in regard to colour. Many of them were segregated from education. We must remember that, in the 1960s, many of these children were educated internally, behind the walls of institutions. Others got out and in many ways had to navigate the streets of the villages and towns of Ireland and be subject to racial abuse. They were also treated differently. Historically, we are told, and having met and actually lived with people who came from Africa and other parts of the world, they felt very different. They felt marginalised. For example, a woman recently spoke to me who said she arrived here with her mother in a tribal dress and within minutes it was ripped off her and disregarded. This was a girl of six or seven years of age, not a baby, who came into institutional care. They were alienated from their past, their culture, their tradition, beliefs and background. That was damaging to them. Many of those people have struggled to get on in many ways. Added to the other complexities of life that challenge each and every one of us, the prejudice was too much for many of them.

Somehow this particular group will be vindicated, outside of this legislation. I am confident, standing here in Seanad Éireann today, that if we do not do anything for them, the higher courts will do it, and we will be back in this Chamber asking why was it we did not respond. Why did we not in some way address this issue? It is an important issue. Racial discrimination is an important issue, particularly for minors in our State whom we took in.We accepted them into our institutional care structures and systems, but we did not do them a lot of good in there. It is a particular issue. I would be interested in hearing the Minister's view on this amendment and in general. The Minister and the Department of Justice will be aware that this is an ongoing issue with advocates. I am not able to discuss all of it here because it would not be right to do so. However, I can tell the Minister these people are already in the early stages of forming litigation against the State.