Victor Boyhan (Independent)

First, I welcome the Minister and her officials here. At the outset, I am struck by the empathy and the detail of the Minister's statement here today and I welcome it. It pulls no punches. It sets out clearly the Minister's position and that of the Government and I really welcome that. It is articulate and yet nuanced and something that is positive. There is no ambiguity about it and I thank the Minister for that. I thank the Minister for the enormous clarity, particularly when she states, "The commission will investigate matters of critical importance to survivors", and lists them clearly.

I am conscious I want to keep my contribution simple. First, I want to thank a few people. In thinking about what I might say here today, I was conscious of Louise O'Keeffe from Cork. It took Ms O'Keeffe 40 years to get justice against the might of the Department of education, the might of the State and the might of the school in Cork eventually with her tenacity, her conviction, her belief and her sharing of her lived experience, and, of course, the European Court of Human Rights ruling in January 2014. Ms O'Keeffe is, therefore, in my mind and is someone we owe a great debt of gratitude to. There is also, as the Minister said, Mark and David Ryan, and their amazing work.I could go on and on listing people. I particularly want to mention the students of St. Augustine's School, Blackrock for their courageous testimony which saw a man sentenced to five years in prison last week. That was a brave thing for those people to do. It is a special needs school. They were men who needed help and support. I travelled some of the journey with two of them. It was not an easy task. Every child is vulnerable but they were particularly vulnerable.

I also think of the people from Newpark, the school I went to and the Gibney accusers and allegations. I knew of Gibney because he was there during my time in the 1970s. I knew many people who lobbied this State and Government to have him extradited many years ago and were given many excuses. I looked at pictures on the RTÉ news of this week of Newpark, which is a famous and excellent school in Blackrock. Colour graphics of the pool and that individual against whom the allegations are being made were shown. I also met a few people of my own age and younger who went to the school. It struck me that they have no one to turn to. I am conscious that we need immediate counselling. We need to support those people now, as this starts evolving and going out into the media. For the past two weeks they have watched news reports from America about the extradition. They are reminded of their experiences by footage of pool's blue tiles with the insignia of Trojan Swimming Club. We need active support now for people who feel vulnerable.

I thank the journalists and wider media, particularly the journalists from RTÉ who produced the documentaries on "RTÉ Investigates". They have done a lot of work. I also thank Mary O'Toole. I notice and welcome the initiative from her original report, which was a report on the scoping inquiry into historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders. That is what the caption was back then. We now have the more bracing and fairer commission of investigation into historical sexual abuse in all schools, because that is important. I do not think we should draw a distinction between religious and non-religious schools. It is a welcome measure.

I put down a few points that I wanted to touch on, namely, transparency, responsibility, accountability, strengthening child protection, independent oversight, listening and supporting and redress. All known abusers must be fully investigated and the details of their crimes published regardless of the perpetrator's position or rank. The Minister has confirmed that here today, for which I thank him. On responsibility, those who have failed through acts of cover-up, turning their heads the other way or neglect must be held accountable. That ties in with the issue of accountability. The most important point is the issue of strengthening child protection. Arising from the court case brought by Louise O'Keeffe, she stated "Nothing is going to change the past, but we can protect the children of the future." That is the task. That is the challenge. That is what motivates me and continues to spur up hope. I am leaving here today with hope. I can honestly say that. I am hopeful that we are going to have strengthened child protection and that every organ of the State and every institution must implement the full range of child protection policies. They must review them regularly and ensure they are being applied.

On the issue of independent oversight, abuse must never be dealt with internally. External, independent bodies are needed to investigate and monitor all instances of abuse. They must be followed up and recorded. Likewise, listening and providing support are vital. We must listen and support the affected and make sure their voices are heard. A recurring theme I hear time and time again - I used to say it to myself - is "One day I will tell my story and I will be believed." That is powerful. One day, each and every one of us will tell our story and we will be believed. It is liberating and important in terms of what we are dong here.

On redress, I read an article attributed to the Tánaiste, Deputy Simon Harris, that appeared on the front page of Saturday's edition of The Irish Times. I welcome that because he, like the Minister herself and the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, have been powerful advocates. I pay credit, as has the Minister today, to the Minister, Deputy Foley, for her work and engagement on this issue. As I have stated previously, including to the Minister here last week, redress comes in many forms. That is important and it is not all about money. There are things like counselling support and there are different cohorts of people with different backgrounds who have different issues. It is important that people get redress and it is not all financial. In tandem with this, as the Minister has confirmed here today, we will continue to work out how we are going to bring redress. It is important. Quite frankly, "sorry" is too simple and too short a word. It is a word people move on from. That is not something people want. They want to be understood, they want to have a voice and they want redress. The most important thing is that we do not run away in time. Resources must not run away either. Let us bring justice. I am highly impressed by what the Minister has said here. It is clearly a strong roadmap of hope. It appears that eventually something is going to be done. I hope that within weeks, the Minister will put in place the resources and supports needed for people who are asking questions like whether this the time to tell their story, whether they will have the supports, whether there will be a slur on their character for a range of reasons or whether they will be asked did they visit this on themselves.

I genuinely thank the Minister for the work she had done and for this important document. None of this could have come out without the courage and bravery of the survivors who continue to struggle. It is a never-ending and evolving process. It is a pathway and walk that has to be constantly navigated. You will hear again and again about the high levels of anxiety experienced by victims of abuse. Their antennae is up all the time. Their alertness is there. They are there because they were on their own most of time trying to keep themselves safe.