Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Senators for speaking on this. I fully support and appreciate the intention behind the amendment. As I stated last week – I agree with Senator Boyhan in this regard – every person responsible for committing the absolutely atrocious crimes and perpetrating such abuse must be held responsible. Those who looked the other way or turned a blind eye must be held responsible. We must ensure there is not just an acknowledgement and an admission of wrong but also payment where it can and should be made, not just regarding this redress but also the many other instances we have discussed here.

We are discussing this legislation, a particular agency and the fund in place. I stress that we have had two separate payments. In this regard, Senator Boyhan mentioned the legally binding indemnity scheme and the 2009 voluntary offers. What we are doing is essentially winding down this particular programme. However, having regard to what is a clear commitment from the Government, I am absolutely committed to exploring further avenues to ensure those responsible, be they religious orders or other organisations, do not just accept and acknowledge the harm they have caused to thousands of individuals, particularly young people, but also pay and contribute as a small acknowledgement of what they have done. I use the word "small" because no payment could ever truly acknowledge the harm inflicted on many. While I cannot accept the amendment we are specifically talking about, and while the redress scheme has passed and there have been various contributions from the various different religious orders, I can say absolutely that the Government is committed to ensuring every single religious order or other relevant body that is responsible for the crimes will also be responsible for paying into any scheme or redress mechanism we roll out in the future.