Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

If it came across in a different way, let me make it clear that redress is not to prevent people from taking legal action and it is not to substitute one for the other. Redress is an acknowledgement of a wrong and, in a small way in many instances, an attempt to try to right that wrong. One can never right that wrong but redress is not there to stop anybody from taking legal action or to prevent somebody from getting the justice he or she rightly deserves. On Senator Craughwell's point, it is to make sure insofar as possible that, for what is often a large number of people, there is an option available to them if they do not wish to take the other route. It is not to prevent them. There is no waiver in this legislation. I just want to be very clear on that.

What I am focused on, and what the Bill can only focus on, is the survivors we are discussing and the institutions. What Senator Higgins is talking about is a much wider piece for the Government looking at all forms of abuse, all issues that have happened over the past number of years and the way the State responds to them. I do not think it would be appropriate for me as an individual Minister to say we are going to do a particular review. If there are types of change or reviews looking at waivers or the way in which commissions of investigation are conducted - I mentioned we will have one coming down soon - that has to be done on a whole-of-Government level.

Again, I have to be very clear that redress is here to say that we are trying in some way to acknowledge that a right has been caused here. It does not, and should never, prevent somebody from going to court to get the justice that he or she deserves. This Bill in itself does not have a waiver included in it.

On amendment No. 22, perhaps I could work with the Senators on this. Obviously, I cannot say in a Bill what we are going to resource. Even though Sage Advocacy gets funding from my Department, that must go through a budgetary process. If there was a way we could work together, be it through legislation as an amendment, a commitment that I would make to Senators or more broadly in setting out the work that Sage Advocacy does, how it could be empowered further and other changes that could be made, I am happy to do that. The wording of the amendment talks about funding and what Sage Advocacy would be provided in resources. I have to go through the same budgetary process as anybody else but I want to find a way we could acknowledge that specific amendment. The work Sage Advocacy does is excellent and I certainly want to be able to empower it further and ensure it has have the resources it needs.