Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)

I welcome the survivors in the Gallery: Sheila, Mary, Miriam and Mary. I thank them for sharing their stories with us.

I commend our colleague Senator Victor Boyhan on the way he has explained his story over the past couple of weeks and opened up on it. The survivors have an exceptional advocate in this Chamber. After their ten requests there, I am sure my Government colleagues and I will be happy to work with them to see how we can develop that.

This legislation, as I have said previously, is a reaffirmation of our commitment to the survivors of some of the darkest chapters in the State's history. For too long, the voices of those who suffered in residential institutions were not heard. Hopefully, today is going a small way towards addressing that, but I wanted to be clear that this is not the end of the process but the beginning of a new phase in how the State supports those who were so gravely wronged. It is a statement that we will not forget, we will not abandon and we will not fail to act.

Like the Minister, over the past couple of weeks, I have learnt an exceptional amount about the history and what has happened. I commend everyone who has made statements in the Chamber on this. I commend the Minister and her Department and also the research department within the Seanad here for the work that it has done. I commend everyone on passing this Bill.