2026-02-25

Before calling on the Taoiseach, I welcome to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery today Mary Dunlevy Greene, Mary Donovan, Maurice O’Connell and Miriam Moriarty Owens, all of whom are survivors of institutional abuse. I also welcome their friends, family and supporters who, alongside Patricia Carey, the Government-appointed special advocate for survivors, have joined us in the Public Gallery. They are all very welcome.

I too welcome to Dáil Éireann a group of survivors of industrial and reformatory schools who met with me and with the then Minister for education, Deputy McEntee, to discuss their concerns and to share their individual stories and experiences. As the Leas-Cheann Comhairle has said, they are Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene, Miriam Moriarty Owens and Maurice Patton O’Connell. I pay tribute to them and thank them for their advocacy. In May 1999, on the basis of a memo I brought to Cabinet, the then Government agreed to enact a series of steps to give victims of childhood abuse an opportunity to be heard. On behalf of the State and of all citizens of the State, the then Government made a sincere apology to the victims of childhood abuse: On behalf of the state and all of the citizens of the state, the government wishes to make a sincere and long overdue apology to the victims of childhood abuse for our collective failure to intervene, to detect their pain and to come to their rescue. I reiterate that apology today. It was acknowledged then that the process of opening up and acknowledging failures to protect the rights of children would be complex, would take new directions and demanded a commitment to responding comprehensively. As a country and as a Government, we recognised that too many of our children were denied the love, care and security that should have been theirs. Abuse ruined their childhoods and remains an ever-present part of their adult lives, reminding them of a time when they were without support or protection. We recognised the gravity of this wrong and undertook to do all we could to overcome the lasting effects of their ordeals. The first major step in a process of seeking full transparency and perspective involved the establishment of the commission of investigation into child abuse. Better known as the Ryan commission, its final report was published in May 2009. It detailed disturbing and significant levels of historic abuse of children who were placed by the Irish State in residential institutions, particularly industrial schools and reformatories, run by religious orders. Ongoing reforms of our childcare laws are essential. The Child Care Act 1991 represented a fundamental change of approach to child protection in its comprehensiveness and scope. It prioritised child protection and modernised State services to protect vulnerable children. Irish child protection was significantly transformed and moved to a more proactive State-managed system focused on the rights and safety of the child. That Act remains the fundamental framework for protecting children. Since then and in response to the Ryan report and other reports, we have advanced further changes. We now have a comprehensive approach to deal with the traumatic impact of previous abuse, to protect children and to strengthen structures and accountability for child protection in this country. Following the creation of the new Department of Children and Youth Affairs in 2011, the Child and Family Agency, now known as Tusla, was established in January 2014. The Thirty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Act 2012 was signed into law on 28 April 2015. It mandated the courts to consider the best interests of the child as paramount in proceedings regarding custody, guardianship, and care. The Children First Act came into effect in 2015. It too broke new ground in vigilance against child abuse and neglect, with mandatory reporting by key professionals and improved child safeguarding arrangements. In 2017 Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children was published. Addressing the effects of past abuse has also been a central part of the State's response to historical abuse in residential institutions, with important measures put in place including the establishment and funding of the HSE's national counselling service providing counselling and support to adults who experienced childhood abuse. Over €1 billion in redress payments have been paid by the State to individual survivors of abuse in industrial schools, reformatories and related institutions through the residential institutions redress scheme and the Education Finance Board. As part of the State's response, contributions were sought from the relevant congregations. Through Caranua, this fund provided €98 million in funding supports to approximately 6,000 survivors. We are now moving to a new phase of supports which I will expand upon later in this statement. First, I want to say I fully recognise that for those who suffered institutional abuse the traumatic impact has been enduring. The deep personal toll that it has taken on the lives of survivors was brought home to me again in my recent engagements with the group that is here today. I was moved to hear each of your personal stories and I am deeply sorry for the harm that you suffered as a consequence of the abuse you experienced in State institutions. When we met, you made me aware of the abuse also suffered by you in particular, but also many others who were boarded out from industrial and reformatory schools. The issue of how you and other children were treated when boarded out was examined in the Ryan report and is further detailed in chapter 11 of the report of the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes. Testimony detailed elsewhere in that report conveyed the harrowing experiences of many of those who were boarded out and the palpable sense of abandonment they felt. In January 2021, on behalf of the Government, the State and its citizens, I apologised for the profound generational wrong visited upon Irish mothers and their children who ended up in a mother and baby or county home institution. I also acknowledged then that many children who were subsequently boarded out experienced heartbreaking exploitation, neglect and abuse within the families and communities in which they were placed. As I said at that time, and wish to reiterate today, regardless of the pathway from which individuals were boarded out, this was unforgivable. The Government recognised that there were many situations where children in boarded-out arrangements were wrongly and harshly treated. They were not raised as part of a family or given the opportunities they should have been in relation to their care and education. We know that some were physically, emotionally and sexually abused. I am very sorry for what was done to you. I apologise on behalf of the State for the abuse and neglect that you suffered. What happened to you was wrong, shocking and should never have happened. The Government recognises the suffering and damage that this abuse has caused, and we will continue to support you as much as possible. To support people who experienced abuse while boarded out, the Government established a boarded out practical support service for adults. It is a free and confidential service offering a wide range of practical supports to survivors. Provided by Barnardos and funded by the State, it delivers practical and therapeutic supports to adults who were boarded out as children in Ireland. Support is also available through the special advocate for survivors, who amplifies the voice of survivors, including those who were boarded out as children. The advisory council currently being established by the special advocate has a number of pillars to reflect the diverse experiences of survivors. One of these pillars is dedicated to, and comprises, those who were boarded out. Access to records is also a very important issue for many of those who were boarded out and have questions about their origins and early life experiences. The Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 provides a clear legal basis for access to birth and early life information and records. This allows those who were adopted, boarded out, the subject of an illegal birth registration or resident in a mother and baby or county home institution as a child, to seek information on their own situation. The national centre for research and remembrance will stand as a national site of conscience to honour equally all those who were resident in institutions and all those who have lived experience of Ireland's historical adoption and boarded-out systems. Survivors will continue to be at the heart of decisions in relation to the development of the national centre. In 2023 the Government approved a new phase of ongoing supports to survivors of abuse in industrial schools, reformatories and related institutions, in areas including health, advocacy and education. This included an enhanced package of health services and supports for those who wish to engage in education and training and access to advocacy supports through a new independent advocacy service. Work is well under way on putting these services and supports in place. I appreciate that there were concerns among certain survivors about the adequacy of these new supports and this has been the subject of the recent campaign by the group present here today. Following the conclusion of a mediation process to address the concerns raised, the Government has agreed to provide further improvements to these services. These include strengthened access to health services for survivors of industrial and reformatory schools through the appointment of dedicated health liaison officers and better access to counselling and physiotherapy services. Work is already under way to put these services in place. The Government has also agreed to provide additional funding for education grants under the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025. I recognise that there have been calls for a contributory State pension for this group of survivors. I discussed this with survivors, and we recognised the complexity of the issue. We agreed to explore ways to address this issue that would be more flexible and easier to access. On foot of this, the Government has approved the expansion of the education support payments scheme under the Act to include the provision of support for informal learning, self-development and well-being activities. These payments will be easy to access and will be introduced as soon as possible. We have also progressed measures to ensure that survivors are prioritised for social housing needs and to ensure that community welfare services give them specific consideration and recognition for funeral costs and provide accordingly. The potential for local memorialisation proposals is also being explored. All of these measures are part of the agreement that I, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Government arrived at with the group that is here today, by letter and mediation. I hope that these additional measures will help the ongoing process of healing for these survivors of institutional abuse. Another matter which I wish to address relates to criminal records. Today I wish to categorically confirm for the record that the State did not, and does not regard individuals, by virtue of their detention in any industrial school as having committed a criminal offence, and that no criminal record is recorded against them.

Hear, hear.

With regard to children who were detained in industrial schools and who were subsequently transferred to a reformatory school, solely by virtue of their detention in the industrial school, they are likewise not considered to have had any criminal record.

Hear, hear.

No person and, in particular, no agency of the State should in any way regard these individuals as having committed a criminal offence or having a criminal record. A formal statement to this effect will also be issued today by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. Certificates confirming this for individual survivors will be provided on a case-by-case basis following receipt of records, including posthumously. The process for this will be put in place by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration as soon as possible. Survivors have felt stigmatised - you made this very clear to me in our meetings - throughout their lives, and we must be clear and categoric in removing any taint of stigmatisation from public discourse and the public record. I once again thank the survivors for being here today. Your commitment, resilience and struggle and the challenges that presented for you personally, as you again articulated to me today, is testament to your tireless commitment to shining a light into the dark corners of both our past and present. I unequivocally apologise to you and reiterate on behalf of the Government, the State, and all the citizens of the State, the profound sorrow for the terrible pain and abuse suffered by you. What you endured on a daily basis as innocent children was harrowing, heart-breaking and wrong.

I join the Taoiseach in thanking the group of survivors from industrial and reformatory schools for their presence in the Dáil today, and indeed for their campaign to highlight the ongoing legacy of trauma bestowed by this country's shameful history of cruelty towards children. Today we welcome Mary, Mary, Miriam and Maurice. I know you met with the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, last year. I know you told your own personal stories, which is a harrowing thing to do in and of itself. In doing so, however, you have brought about a renewed focus on the terrible experience of all survivors, and a further acknowledgement by the State of the dreadful harm that was done to children. The State has often compounded the wrongs of the past by failing to admit them quickly enough and failing to comprehensively acknowledge our part in them. I can think of too many examples where this has been the case. I hope today might serve another purpose in helping us to learn from that once and for all. Today I am glad that we are recognising the hurt and the pain of those abused in childhood in State institutions. Every time the silence that once surrounded your suffering is broken is a moment of light shining in the darkness. We have heard, as we should, in this House on many occasions of the systematically cold and harsh treatment of children and the endemic culture of abuse which went unchecked in our State for far too long. It is right that we should hear these harsh truths in this House and it is right that we should apologise for them. In truth, we can never apologise enough for what happened. In May 1999, the Government apologised to the victims of childhood abuse and recognised the acute pain and abuse that children suffered when they should have been cared for and protected by the State. Instead of love, care and protection, they were gravely wronged. In that apology, it was rightly accepted that abuse ruined their childhoods and remained an ever-present part of their adult lives. Although unable to escape the enduring and deep hurt that they carried with them down the years, survivors have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to sharing their stories, their terrifying living nightmares, so that the State would act. As with the survivors here today, each one of you has your own unique experience of suffering but I know that through your efforts you are seeking to improve things for all survivors of institutional abuse. I am sincerely and profoundly sorry for the pain and suffering you were subjected to in and by the State. Today we are building on that State apology of 1999 and all that has followed. Although not yet a Member of this House, I remember the Ryan report some ten years later and the appalling litany of abuse described therein. It is impossible to read the records of abuse reported by witnesses to that inquiry without feeling sick to your stomach. Not too long after I was first elected, I remember being present in this Chamber after the publication of the Cloyne report which, although a separate commission process to the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, again exposed the disgusting downplaying of the rape and torture of children, and a dangerous disregard for child protection practices. I recall being present in this Chamber in 2013 for the then Taoiseach’s apology to the Magdalen women, as we visited again the cold and pitiless Ireland that was systematically punitive to girls and women. Of course, I remember being present in 2021 when the Taoiseach apologised to those who spent time in mother and baby homes in this country. So many occasions when we have had to once again unleash the national trauma of our past and expose again the wounds which never healed for children afflicted by a culture where indifference enabled violence, neglect and abuse. The dark past of this country is an abyss of misery for the children so victimised. It is right, as I have said, that this House listens and apologises and, more importantly, it is essential we act. It is true to say extensive work has been undertaken to reform our child welfare laws and ensure that our structures and accountability for child protection are robust and effective. The country held a referendum and the people voted to enshrine the best interests of children in our Constitution and in law. Mandatory reporting was introduced but we must also remind ourselves that when it comes to caring for and protecting our children, we must always be vigilant and always seek to improve services and safeguards. Child welfare concerns can never be seen as a thing of the past but must be an ever-present priority if we are to be true to the reforms we have made. In addition to the experience of those who were abused while in institutions, the Taoiseach also spoke about those who experienced abuse while boarded out. The 2021 State apology rightly recognised the many situations where children who were boarded out were treated shamefully. Far from being placed into the bosom of a family, children were neglected, abused and exploited for labour. Today, we clearly and unequivocally on behalf of the State apologise to those who suffered abuse in these circumstances. Today, we confirm, on the record of this House, that the State did not, and does not regard individuals as having committed a criminal offence and that no criminal record is recorded against them by virtue of their detention in any industrial school. I appreciate that with the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025, we have entered into a new phase of ongoing supports for survivors of abuse. Today we seek to build on those concerns and supports as the Taoiseach has outlined. I welcome that. We hope that the actions we have taken to date and those we take now make some contribution to the healing process for survivors. I hope today’s apology goes some way towards that and that the support of the State today can start to make up, in some small way, for the neglect of the State when you were at your most helpless and vulnerable. I wan to conclude by restating again our deep sorrow for the grievous wrong that was done to you as children. We can never forget that the suffering deliberately imposed on the most blameless innocents is a stain on our nation. We can never stop trying to understand how, as a State and as a society, our most basic instinct - to protect our children - was warped into an appalling acceptance of abuse and abandonment. I think of a line from the poetry collection The Poison Glen by Annemarie Ní Churreáin – a collection informed by conversations with survivors of Irish institutions – in the poem "Creed". The line is "The Child, my sister, my brother, who was conceived out of darkness in a moment of light and placed into the care of Stone." We unequivocally apologise on behalf of the Government, the State and all the citizens of this State for all that you have endured.

The dark shadow cast by what was done to children in Ireland's industrial and reformatory schools is a horror with which our country has never fully reconciled. Indeed, it may be impossible to do so. The scale and depth of the abuse, violence, hurt and life-lasting trauma suffered by victims has rippled and reverberated for decades, sometimes as quiet as uncertain as a whisper, sometimes powerful enough to rock our collective conscience but always there. The industrial schools were a State-sanctioned system of abuse of vulnerable children, operated on the watch of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments. Children who needed care and safety were instead met with the most unimaginable cruelty. They were criminalised and victimised, swept under the carpet of society, swept behind iron gates and swept into places of unspeakable brutality. Responsibility for impoverished children was handed to the religious orders, and then a blind eye was turned to the extreme violence inflicted on them. Children, whose names were erased with a number, whose innocence was crushed in dark rooms and grey cold courtyards, children whose cries for help were drowned out by a depraved cruelty. Not only did the State and successive Governments sanction this systematic abuse of children but it was then covered up, survivors dismissed, their experiences sidelined and their demand for truth and justice ignored. Survivors, for too long, were robbed of their right to say without fear or contradiction "I was there in that place. These awful things were done to me again and again. It was done to me." The way the State chose to look after vulnerable children was to batter, brutalise and dehumanise them. The chosen setting was industrial schools. It would be easy to say that these children were forgotten but the State and successive Governments knew exactly where it had put them, knew the culture of violence that dominated these places and knew that children would be met with cruelty masked as care, which was the same broken philosophy that gave rise to the mother and baby homes and Magdalen laundries. We have heard the powerful testimony of many survivors, yet it remains hard to comprehend the gravity of the beatings, sexual abuse, emotional and mental torture and excruciating tension of not knowing when that next horror would come every minute of every hour of every day. Childhoods were destroyed, lives ruined and unspeakable damage done. The physical scars run deep. The mental and emotional scars are wrapped tightly around every heartbeat and every breath taken. For survivors, this is not a chapter of history because the trauma is with them still today, hardwired perpetually into their lives. Twenty-seven years ago, survivors heard a State apology from then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Three years later, the redress board was set up to provide financial redress to survivors. In 2009, the Ryan report laid bare the shocking endemic nature of abuse in industrial schools. The Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act was enacted in 2012 to manage very meagre contributions from religious orders in the areas of housing, health and education. Let it not be forgotten that survivors had to fight and wait years between each step of progress and reparation. Survivors are still fighting for full truth, full justice, full accountability and the supports they deserve. That is what brought the four survivors of industrial school abuse to the gates of the Dáil last September for 51 days. Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene and Maurice Patton O'Connell protested and went on hunger strike outside Leinster House. That is what it took for them to be heard by Government. The demands of Miriam, Mary, Mary and Maurice for the State contributory pension and a Health (Amendment) Act, HAA, medical card to help address the lifelong consequences of the abuse they and others suffered were shamefully ignored by Government. They were allowed to go on hunger strike to the point where they developed real, genuine health concerns. They deserve an apology for that too. They called off their protest after proposals that were belatedly tabled by the Taoiseach. I can only hope and pray that the full package of measures is true to those proposals and that Government in full follows through on its promises. Maireann an tráma ón mí-úsáid a d'fhulaing íospartaigh in áiteanna tionsclaíocha fós leo sa lá atá inniu ann. Tá an Stát agus rialtas i ndiaidh rialtais freagrach as an méid a tharla sna háiteanna seo. Ní cóir go mbeadh ar ár marthanóirí troid a thuilleadh. Today's apology is of course welcome and I hope it brings them some comfort, but an apology without justice is really no apology at all. No child belonged in these places. No child should have endured such suffering. To be beaten and abused only to know that it would happen again, to be demeaned and know that this was allowed, and to cry out for help and know that help was not coming is the harrowing story of Ireland's industrial schools. It is a story crafted by the Irish State and overseen by successive Governments hand in glove with the religious orders. Today, however, the dignity of each survivor soars above all of that. They had to fight for far too long. They should never ever have to fight again.

Today's apology is historic, important and welcome. I acknowledge the survivors who have endured decades of harm, neglect and State failure. We are not dealing with an historic issue. It is very much live and present. It is the ongoing failure of the State to meet the basic needs of survivors of institutional abuse. I welcome the apology and the commitment in terms of supports. I encourage their being in place as quickly as possible, although it is already too late. I say to Mary, Mary, Miriam and Maurice, and people talk about stigma, that they are an inspiration. You have achieved something. Less than a year ago, I stood here, and our current President, Catherine Connolly, sat over there. We brought forward proposals and amendments in line with what they were looking for. We lost. We were unsuccessful. We did not deliver, but you did. You have done that. It should not have taken your hunger strike, but your resilience and determination have been an absolute inspiration. You stuck it out and brought the Government to this position. You should be incredibly proud of yourselves. Your families should be incredibly proud of you, as should the whole of Ireland. It is an inspiration. We met and talked. You were incredibly tenacious. You did not let us or the Government away with anything. There are commitments here from the Government. We need to see them realised. This is a wrong that has to be righted. I know you will, as will we, pursue it to make sure that you get exactly what has been committed to. As I said, what you have done is very inspirational. This relates to a very dark period in Irish history. Lessons have to be learnt. We need to see action on the part of the Government in the context of ensuring that the commitments which have been made are delivered. Once again, comhghairdeas libh. You should be incredibly proud of yourselves. I am inspired by you.

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak for the Labour Party in today's important and historic debate. I welcome the Taoiseach’s apology, which marks an important step in Ireland’s recognition of our shameful history as a society and of our appalling treatment of women and children over so many decades. It recognises that far too many of our people were incarcerated in reformatories, industrial schools, Magdalen laundries, mother and baby homes and other institutions in what is a very recent and shameful history. We acknowledge that today. Abuse was systemic and known about. It was covered up and brushed under the carpet. It has taken brave and courageous survivors over many years to shine a light into that dark and shameful history. I acknowledge the mighty Ms who are here today, namely Mary Donovan, Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Dunlevy Greene and Maurice Patton O’Connell. I welcome them, their families and supporters. Many are in the Gallery and many are watching online. I welcome Carmel McDonnell Byrne and so many more. I think of and acknowledge the late Christine Buckley. Carmel reminded me Sunday next marks 30 years since "Dear Daughter" was aired. It was in that ground-breaking documentary, made by the late Louis Lentin, that Christine described the horrific abuse to which she was subjected in Goldenbridge. I had the privilege of knowing Christine, who died so sadly in 2014. Carmel reminded me that Christine said about her appalling experience of abuse that survivors needed a year's counselling for every day they spent in those hellholes. I had the privilege of representing survivors of abuse before the Residential Institutions Redress Board in a previous life as a barrister. I heard first hand from people about the utterly horrifying experiences they endured - the appalling abuse, the vindictive, systemic, sadistic abuse they experienced in those institutions. For any of us who have heard or spoken with survivors, it stays with us all. I thank them all for shining a light on what went on for far too long and, as I said, about what was known about, covered up and systemic in so many institutions. It has taken great bravery. It has taken the courage of survivors to shine a light, and the campaign has taken far too long. The trauma we know was inflicted upon the survivors at such a young age will last a lifetime, and they should not have had to protest for so long in this latest stage of seeking justice. Meetings with survivors who were protesting outside Leinster House last autumn should not have been postponed or delayed, particularly as we know that delays magnify hurt. I am glad the protests culminated in the commitment from the Government to today’s State apology, but the apology must have meaning and an impact. I welcome the package of measures the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have announced, to include financial assistance, prioritised access to social housing, trauma-informed healthcare and education supports. These measures are welcome but survivors tell me they are keen to get a timeline for when the services will be put in place. They and their families are understandably anxious to know when the commitments will be upheld and when the services will be made available. Clearly, the first important part of continuing to right historical wrongs is the apology today. However, we must all collectively ensure that proper justice, full justice and redress are delivered to provide dignity and closure to a group of people who have suffered for so long. Thousands of children were subjected to systemic and sustained abuse in industrial and reform schools going back to the 1940s. I refer to physical, sexual and emotional abuse in schools operated largely by religious orders but funded and supervised by State entities. Neither the church nor the State intervened to prevent mistreatment. The Catholic Church, in particular, is known to have acted as a sort of shadow welfare State, operating institutions on behalf of the State, with the State abdicating responsibility to vulnerable children. I am glad to hear the Minister for justice is going to make clear that there will be absolutely no criminal records. Far too many of the adults I represented had been sent through criminal courts. They were appallingly criminalised by the State and sent to suffer abuse at the hands of religious orders in institutions. It is utterly shameful that there are people, still living, who had those experiences. It is long past time that the justice element was dealt with. The Taoiseach rightly described the publication of the Ryan report in 2009 as a watershed moment. I still remember people coming up to public representatives in the street and to so many others to talk about the experiences they had suppressed as children that were brought back into their minds by what the report revealed. That was an important step in uncovering State complicity as well as religious orders’ complicity. There was much that was wrong with the redress scheme I described, involving the Residential Institutions Redress Board. We have learned from that and we now know how much we need to ensure enhanced and substantive supports are made available to survivors. I welcome the progress to be made on the pensions point, in particular. There are two forward-facing points that need to be made. The first relates to our duty as legislators. We need to identify and address gaps in child protection legislation to ensure our legislation is now robust and fit for purpose and that the State is no longer able to outsource or neglect the care of the most vulnerable in our society. I am thinking of those who are still in congregated settings, those children who come here as unaccompanied minors and who are in State care, and children in State care in many different settings in respect of whom we have a duty and whom we must not fail again. The second call is to ensure the religious orders are made accountable. I have spoken before about how the churches, but particularly the Catholic Church, enabled a culture of secrecy and cover-up to develop for far too long, and how church authorities were very slow, also for far too long, to pay due redress, with the State paying a huge share despite having been promised that religious orders would engage in delivering justice. The Labour Party has introduced a Bill that seeks to address that imbalance. It seeks to facilitate civil proceedings against unincorporated bodies such as religious orders. It provides a mechanism for recovering damages from the associated lay-run trusts set up by many religious orders to hold their assets, so that those assets can no longer be shielded from unpaid redress. Successive Governments have repeatedly failed to compel religious orders to pay their fair share of redress, and many continue to evade responsibility. The Labour Bill is now in the lottery for debate during Private Members’ time. It is about ending the evasion and ensuring religious orders face accountability and that religious institutions that ignored abuse or enabled its perpetration are held accountable for the harm they caused. If we pass this legislation, the Oireachtas will have an opportunity to take a meaningful further step towards justice, dignity and truth for survivors. We cannot simply appeal to the moral duty of religious orders to ensure victims receive the justice they deserve. We have seen a slow pace of action, avoidance of responsibility and legal obfuscation for far too long. We owe an enormous debt of appreciation and gratitude to all those brave survivors and victims who have shown such tremendous courage in coming forward to make disclosures and reveal to us all the true extent of abuse in religious-run and State-run institutions, which occurred for far too long. I hope that all survivors or victims and their families watching and listening today will find some solace in today’s proceedings. I welcome the apology but we still need to do more to ensure true justice for survivors.

I, too, welcome Mary, Miriam, Maurice and Mary to the House today, together with your family members and supporters. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to meet you this afternoon. I understand that days like today are particularly difficult for you and your families because hearing an apology can bring back such painful experiences. I also recognise how important this moment is in acknowledging the harm that was done. It is an essential step in honouring your truth and supporting healing for you and those who love you. The abuse and mistreatment that you, as well as so many other survivors, experienced during childhood was horrific and wrong. It is right that this historic wrong has been acknowledged by both the State and the Government and that it continues to be acknowledged. It is also right that the State continues to provide supports to survivors to address the legacy of the abuse suffered. As the Taoiseach has already outlined, there has been a significant response by the State to this issue in recent decades, much of which has come under the remit of my Department. It includes the investigations undertaken by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the redress payments made to survivors by the Residential Institutions Redress Board, and funding supports provided by Caranua to over 6,000 survivors in important areas such as health, housing and education. In addition, the National Counselling Service continues to provide much-needed counselling and psychiatry services to survivors of childhood abuse. However, we are now moving to a new phase of the State providing ongoing supports to survivors to meet their key needs. Last July, the Oireachtas passed the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025, which will enable the delivery of ongoing health and education supports to survivors of abuse in residential institutions. With regard to health supports, eligible survivors will be provided with a medical card, which will enable them to obtain certain health supports and services through the HSE. This entitlement will be for life and will not be subject to means testing or review. The Government has recently agreed to strengthen this package of health supports through the appointment of specified liaison officers within the HSE and through improved access to counselling and physiotherapy services. I understand that the Department of Health is working closely with the HSE to ensure these supports, including the health liaison officers, will be in place as soon as possible. The Government has also approved the expansion of the education support payment scheme, to be provided under the Act. This scheme, which will be administered by my Department, will provide payments ranging from €500 to €2,000 per year to survivors engaging in education, depending on the level of the course concerned. The scheme will also provide payments of €600 per year to survivors to support with informal learning, self-development and well-being. My Department is finalising arrangements in order that these important supports for survivors can be delivered as soon as possible. In addition, Sage Advocacy has since November 2023 been engaged by my Department to provide advocacy supports to survivors. It has appointed regional advocates all across the country to assist survivors engaging with relevant service providers such as local authorities and the HSE. Information on the supports available to survivors will be published on the Department’s website and will also be communicated to survivor and advocacy groups to ensure that as many survivors as possible will be made aware of their availability. To Mary, Miriam, Maurice and Mary, I say nothing we do now can ever make up for the harm that you have suffered and that was done to you by others. As children, you were subjected to horrific abuse while placed in residential institutions. It is vital, however, that this harm and its ongoing impact on the lives of survivors are addressed and acknowledged.

I echo and confirm my support for the apology made by the Taoiseach today on behalf of the Government. I also endorse the words of the Tánaiste and the Minister for education. I share my colleagues' deep sense of regret for the pain and suffering experienced by those who experienced detention in industrial schools. I now want to make an official statement, as Minister for justice, in respect of people detained in industrial schools. I know that this is an important official statement for Mary, Mary, Miriam and Maurice and that it will provide them with some solace. As Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, I confirm that the State did not and does not regard individuals as having committed a criminal offence and that no criminal record is recorded against them by virtue of their detention in any industrial school. Children who were detained in industrial schools and who were subsequently transferred to a reformatory school, solely by virtue of their detention in the industrial school, are likewise not considered to have had any criminal record. No person, and in particular no agency of the State, should regard these individuals as having committed a criminal offence or having a criminal record. I can also confirm that if individuals wish to have further confirmation that they do not have a criminal record arising from their detention in an industrial school or transfer to a reformatory school solely by virtue of their detention in an industrial school, that confirmation can be provided in the form of a written certificate, including posthumously. Each request for the issuing of a certificate will be considered on a case-by-case basis following receipt and review of records. Again, I express my sincere sympathies to those who experienced detention in industrial schools. I hope that confirmation that the State does not consider these individuals to have a criminal record is a small but meaningful acknowledgement of the need to repair this harm.

I just want to seek some sort of clarity on the statement, but before that, I congratulate, in spite of all the adversity they went through, the efforts those in the Gallery made against the tide and against the resistance they faced. They pushed on through and got it. Many of them came from Tralee as well but-----

We appreciate that, Deputy, but this is for statements, not questions.

Yes. I see in the Taoiseach's statement on behalf of the Government that he acknowledges and apologises for the generational wrong. He acknowledges that some children who were subsequently boarded out experienced exploitation and that many boys were sent to work on farms and many girls were sent to work in domestic service. He said in the statement at the time-----

Deputy, I am sorry. I cannot permit you to ask a question; I can permit you to continue with your statement.

Regardless of the pathway from which individuals were boarded out, the Taoiseach has acknowledged that it is unforgivable, and that is good. He recognises situations where children were wrongly and harshly treated. He stated: "The Government recognises the suffering and damage ... this ... has caused, and we will continue to support you as much as possible." However, people who were boarded out from county homes cannot "continue to be supported" because they were never included in any redress scheme. Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that promises would be made, but promises were broken. Something must be done, he said at one stage. Will the people who were boarded out from the county homes be included in part of any redress scheme? It is unclear, I suggest, what the Taoiseach says when he says the Government will continue to support them, because the people I speak to have not been supported initially. They have not been included in any redress scheme, so it is impossible to continue to support them when the Government has not been doing so, even though the Taoiseach acknowledges the wrong that has been done to them. This is important for the thousands of people who were boarded out because it was the State that abandoned, discriminated against and did not help those children at every step of the way. We cannot blame mother and baby homes or any segment of the Catholic Church or any other church for that matter. It was always the State. I ask Members opposite in their closing remarks to clarify whether those children, who are now in their 70s, will be included. A lot of them do not want counselling any more and do not need it, but they do want to be included as part of the redress scheme. It is important, and I want to know and they want to know whether they will be included.

I give a very warm welcome to all the survivors in the Public Gallery. We are here today because of their tireless efforts to get justice. I welcome the State apology today for survivors of industrial and reformatory schools as well as the clarification on criminal records. I do, however, want to talk about what it took to get here. Survivors of these nightmarish institutions, Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene, Maurice Patton O'Connell and Miriam Moriarty Owens, went on hunger strike for 51 days, sleeping on the street outside Leinster House, in the bitter cold and rain, in the winter, just to be listened to, to be taken seriously, to be heard. These are people who have already been repeatedly failed by the State, who were placed in these terrible institutions when they were just children, only to be beaten, starved and sexually abused, treated like prisoners and slaves, denied a childhood, denied compassion, denied care, denied everything a child needs. They were tortured for years by religious orders and a complicit State. The State knew this was happening and did not stop it and did not help - quite the opposite. It continued to send children to these awful places. These children had suffered trauma and needed love and support and were denied it. Instead, all they received was brutality and terror. Every waking minute was marked by fear, anxiety and horror. Lives were destroyed. We are still in this Chamber failing them today, decades later, forcing them to beg for supports that should be easy to access, forcing them to jump through hoops just to get the basics, making them feel like they have no other choice but to go on hunger strike. These are survivors of depraved abuse, forced to endure further trauma and pain, just to get what they should already be entitled to. Today's apology marks the fifth time the State has apologised for what children and women endured in institutions run by religious orders. Those apologies now stretch back nearly 30 years. They started in 1999, when Bertie Ahern apologised to children who had been abused in residential institutions. At the time Mr. Ahern lamented the "piecemeal approach" the State had taken to protecting children and commended the "bravery of individual victims determined to tell their stories and seek justice". Back then, the current Taoiseach was education Minister and chair of a Cabinet subcommittee tasked with designing supports for victims. Since then, there have been apologies by a further three taoisigh: Brian Cowen, Enda Kenny and, in 2021, Micheál Martin himself. Here we are again today, still forcing victims to go public, to advocate and to fight the State for recognition and services, still taking a legalistic approach to redress, in which the overriding priority is limiting access and eligibility, once again trying to protect the State's finances rather than trying to protect victims. The redress scheme for survivors of mother and baby homes is the perfect example of this. It limits support and services to as narrow a group as possible for entirely arbitrary reasons that have no scientific or logical basis, causing further pain and trauma to survivors, who have already suffered so much, in the process. The State did not do this in the dim or distant past. It was a decision by the previous Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party Government. It excluded children who had spent less than six months in one of these institutions and children who had been boarded out, even if those children had been forcibly separated from their mothers, illegally adopted or treated like slave labour and abused in the places they were boarded out to. They got nothing. I hope the brave people who went on hunger strike are not failed by this Government too. I know they feel very angry and let down that supports they were promised have not materialised. To have survivors consulted about the apology 30 minutes beforehand and to have the dates of their coming and going from the institutions wrong today is insulting. It is disrespectful and the very least they deserve today is respect. I hope this does not continue beyond today.

Mary, Miriam, Mary and Maurice should never have had to fight this hard to hear the words they did today. We should never have met outside Leinster House when they were outside on hunger strike, in the cold and dark alone, as they were so many times as children. That should never have happened. They should never have had to endure that. I thank them all for entrusting me with their stories. It broke my heart the first time I met them, and it still breaks my heart today. I am sorry for getting emotional, but it is on their behalf. What they endured as children and what they are enduring today is just heartbreaking. As Deputy Cairns has just said, to know that their entry and exit dates were incorrect is wrong. The other thing that is wrong is the fact that they all have to go home tonight because they were not put up for the night in Dublin. They have far to travel, and this is an emotional day. That should not have happened to them either. I congratulate them for the work they have done. They have been amazing. As Deputy O'Rourke has said, they were inspirational. I hope they find some peace today for the remainder of their lives and that the things promised to them are delivered in a timely way. It is three months since they came off the road outside and they have still not been delivered. I wish them the best of luck and I hope today has helped them heal in some little way.

I pay tribute to all industrial and reformatory school survivors and to those who have not lived to hear today's State apology. It is one apology in a series to those who suffered terribly in State institutions. It will ring hollow if it is not followed quickly by the enactment of commitments the Taoiseach made to the hunger strikers last November. I connected with Mary Dunlevy Greene, Mary Donovan, Miriam Moriarty Owens and Maurice Patton O'Connell during their 51-day protest outside Leinster House, in particular with Mary Dunlevy Greene through our shared County Limerick roots. I look forward to meeting Mary in Kilteely, County Limerick, in the coming months. I was deeply struck by the determination and commitment to justice shown by these survivors on behalf of all who endured our hellish industrial and reformatory school system. We may have moved on from the savage abuse and abject deprivation that defined our industrial and reformatory schools, but too often this has given way to a cold bureaucratic system that meets survivors not with respect and compassion, but with delay, resistance or indifference when they try to access healthcare, basic financial supports and measures that would bring a modicum of comfort to their lives. I implore the Taoiseach to act on the commitments he made to the survivors last November with the greatest urgency.

Today is an important moment in facing up to a traumatic time in our history. This State was established with the intention of moving away from the cruel and harsh regime that vulnerable children experienced in workhouses. However, after independence many of these vulnerable children remained in the workhouses, which were renamed as county homes. Others were put into orphanages, industrial schools and reformatory schools or boarded out to families. Successive tribunals and commissions of investigation have established that many of the children did not get the love, care and security they deserved. Worse again, many experienced severe abuse. This legacy of abuse and neglect of children has caused deep trauma, which is still with survivors today. I have met with Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Dunlevy Greene, Mary Donovan and Maurice Patton O’Connell on a number of occasions, including during their time outside Leinster House, and I am truly conscious of the trauma they and other survivors have endured and continue to endure. As they are aware, the issues were raised directly with an Taoiseach and the Minister for education. I welcome the fact that mediation talks coupled with the genuine personal commitment of an Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, and, most especially, the determination and courage of the group of four survivors paved the way for today's outcome. On that note, I do not believe we should ever underestimate the determination of Miriam, Maurice and the two Marys and their absolute commitment to achieve today's success, not just for themselves but for all the others who experienced what they experienced, lived what they lived and live what they live today. From the outset, I was struck by that sense of solidarity and generosity that drove Miriam, Mary, Maurice and Mary on. I think all in this House thank them for that. I welcome the apology the Taoiseach has made in the Dáil to survivors of institutional abuse and those who suffered abuse while they were boarded out. This apology builds on the 1999 apology to victims of institutional abuse and aspects of the 2021 apology to survivors of mother and baby homes. From speaking with survivors, I know many worried that they may have a criminal record just by virtue of having been in an industrial school or a reformatory school. The Taoiseach and the Minister for justice have restated the official position that no such criminal record exists. This reassurance is important for survivors, and I welcome it. Today is a day when the State rightly says sorry for the failings of the past. Every day, we must work with dedication and determination to ensure those past failures are not repeated in the present and into the future. There has been huge reform of our child welfare and protection system over past decades. There are vetting procedures and avenues of support in place that did not exist in the past. However, we cannot shy away from the fact that there are still some children in our society who remain at risk. As a State and a society, we must continue to do everything in our power to protect and support all children, especially those who are most vulnerable. I conclude by again saluting the courage of Maurice Patton O’Connell, Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Dunlevy Greene and Mary Donovan. To them, we say thank you.

Like my colleagues, I am pleased to have the time to contribute to this State apology. I acknowledge the words of the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and many of my colleagues in apologising for the great harm that was done to so many young people and families over a prolonged period of time at the hands of the State. The Taoiseach's apology today rightly built on the 1999 apology on behalf of the State and its citizens to all survivors of childhood abuse, taking into consideration the 2021 apology to survivors and former residents of the mother and baby institutions. Today in particular, we reference and relate to those who were boarded out from the various institutions, many of whom were children who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of those who were meant to protect and support them. Today, we refer to the criminal records and make it clear that no person has a criminal record by virtue of having been in an industrial school. I know this is an important element of the apology today. We make reference to the important initiatives that have taken place in recent decades, including the work of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, improvements to child protection and the provision of redress and other supports. It is important to recommit to and acknowledge the new and necessary ongoing supports that will be delivered to survivors. I acknowledge four people who have brought us to this point and made today happen. They are Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene, Miriam Moriarty Owens and Maurice Patton O'Connell. I know they represent many other survivors of institutional abuse and our industrial schools. I met all four in my previous role as Minister for education. I thank them for the time they afforded me in our engagement and during our time. I am conscious that I am not the first person they had to relay their story to. I am also conscious of the horrors that were inflicted on them, their siblings and their family members, and the intergenerational trauma that has been inflicted on them and their communities. We are here only through their bravery and determination to ensure not just that the wrong that was inflicted on them is recognised here today but that the wrong that was inflicted on so many others is also recognised here today. We must all take this opportunity to restate our absolute commitment as legislators and public representatives working together to make sure that these kinds of abuse do not happen again and that no young person or family will ever be subjected to the kinds of abuse we know were inflicted on so many young people through no fault of their own. Again, I welcome the Taoiseach's apology and the Tánaiste's apology here today and join with colleagues in thanking in particular Mary, Mary, Miriam and Morris for what they have done and what they have achieved on their own behalf but also on behalf of so many others.

Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene and Maurice Patton O'Connell are four courageous survivors of abuse in industrial schools who undertook a hunger strike for 51 days outside this very building. They did not do that lightly. They did it as a last act, a last resort. These survivors, who had already been failed in childhood by the State and religious authorities, felt compelled to place their own health at risk simply to have their voices heard, and all for very modest demands, including a HAA card so they can access medical care without additional financial hardship and a contributory State pension acknowledging the years of their unpaid labour carried out in the institutions. Government after Government acknowledged wrongs but failed to implement fully comprehensive survivor-centred redress. In reality, the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025 was a half-measure that ignored the unmet need of all survivors. Sinn Féin brought forward amendments at the time seeking to make that Act equal for all survivors of residential institutions but all of our amendments were struck down by Government. The 2025 Act failed to guarantee universal access to that HAA card; did not provide a contributory State pension in recognition of that unpaid institutional labour; created eligibility thresholds that excluded survivors based on technicalities; and introduced layers of bureaucracy that placed undue burden again on survivors to prove their suffering. A survivor-centred scheme would have ensured the universal inclusion for survivors regardless of what institution they were in or the institution's religious ethos. That was not survivor-centred; it was bureaucracy-centred. It created a hierarchy of pain based on arbitrary lines. Survivors of institutional abuse were failed as children by religious orders and by the State - by the very systems that were meant to protect them - and they carried the consequences of that for a lifetime. Enduring trauma, an indelible mark was put upon them by those in authority and they were criminalised. The State now has an opportunity and an obligation to move beyond symbolism and deliver concrete, equitable, survivor-centred supports and a timeline for the delivery of them. All commitments must be delivered. Justice must be delivered but an apology has to be the beginning not the end because an apology without justice is hollow and empty and those four people sitting in the Gallery today and all the others like them deserve so much more than that.

All the bigwig Ministers are here. A few things have to be stated very honestly. Those four survivors were left outside there for over 40 days and, but for Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene and Maurice Patton O'Connell suffering and putting their health at risk, nothing would have been given. I remember raising this on the floor of the Dáil. I think Catherine Connolly, who is now the President, raised it during Leaders' Questions. I think I raised it during Questions on Policy or Legislation on the same day. The answer we got back was that the Government was not giving into emotional blackmail. I want to clarify what has been conceded to the survivors. I put my glasses on a couple of times to check this. Instead of a pension, they are being given a yearly payment of €600. Is that correct? That is €4 per week and we are expected to think that is okay, bearing in mind the free labour that was done in reformatory schools. A host of things that seem to have been discussed and asked for by the survivors have not been given. They make the point that there are 4,000 other people who are looking for lifelong supports that they still have not got. The Government goes on about one-off payments during the cost-of-living crisis but these are all one-off measures so that they do not exist for other people as well. A figure of €600 per year is an insult and should be looked at again. I pay homage to them for their determination and consistency in raising this issue. I acknowledge once again people who have been the victims of the church-State nexus. First cousins of my mother were in reformatory schools. We all only found out about it much later in life. We did not know anything about them and they had lifelong suffering and torment as a result of what they experienced there. The damage to people's psychological and physical health has not been fully acknowledged at all by what has been given. Once again, the Irish State is covering up its role in past abuses.

These are the words of Mary Dunlevy Greene, one of the hunger strikers who fought for redress from the Government for the State's part in their abuse: We were child slaves. We got very little portions of food. We were deprived of every human right. A capitation grant was paid by the State to the religious orders to keep us there. They gagged us. We weren't allowed to speak afterwards or name an institution or a perpetrator. The horrors cannot be overstated. I remember going out to meet with them when they were bravely on their hunger strike, not seeing any road in terms of justice and just the horror these people went through for which the State was responsible. Therefore, it is welcome that the State has given an apology but it has to be followed by action. We cannot forget how long it took to get to this point, not just in years but in terms of the 46 days of the hunger strike it took for a mediator to be put in place and the 51 days for the Government to commit to work with the hunger strikers regarding their very simple demands. These were the award of a Health (Amendment) Act card and a State contributory pension for the abuse that they suffered in their childhood, in line - this is the point they always made - with what had been offered to other survivors of similar institutions. It is good that the Government has announced supports for survivors. It has been a very long process and they are not all in place but they need to be put in place. If they are not, we will be putting very significant pressure on in here to make sure that they are and that survivors are not forced to contact us to say that they keep hearing that things are going to be resolved but things do not seem to be resolved. There are around 4,000 living survivors of abuse in industrial schools. They cannot be made to wait. They have to get this. It is the very least that they are entitled to. I also want to raise a related issue of abuse that has been ignored. This is the historic abuse that occurred in psychiatric hospitals. I have been speaking to Mary Donovan about her mother Margaret Mary Donovan, who was institutionalised for nearly her entire life. She spent over 50 years in both State-run and religious institutions across Ireland from the age of 16. In 1966, nursing notes said there appeared to be very little wrong mentally with her, yet she remained institutionalised. Included in the allegations against these psychiatric institutions are mistreatment, rape and forced labour. The abuse also severely impacted the life of Mary's brother Christopher, who spent over 20 years in a psychiatric hospital and died there in 2007. The abuse he suffered saw him go from what was described as a big man to a skeleton and develop numerous other issues, including schizophrenia. There is no inquiry in place regarding psychiatric institutions and no redress or apology has been offered. This issue is coming and the Government should get ahead of it, address it, order an inquiry into it and not force another group of people to have to protest for a basic recognition of the wrongs the State did to them and an apology.

I very much welcome the Government's apology today to the survivors of abuse in residential institutions. This apology builds on the State's apology to all victims of childhood abuse made in May 1999 and also takes into consideration the 2021 apology to survivors and former residents of the mother and baby institutions. This apology comes as we reflect on one of the darkest chapters of our history - a chapter we must look back on and learn from. On 22 September last year, a number of brave, determined and committed survivors began their hunger strike outside Leinster House, including a courageous lady from my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny, Ms Mary Dunlevy Greene. When I met with the group of survivors while they were on hunger strike in September, I was deeply impacted by their accounts of their childhoods and struck by how they had been strong enough to carry on, yet also recount those horrific times in order to tell their stories again and again. While I am glad the Government has issued this long-awaited apology today, I hope it can bring them some level of comfort. I am under no illusion that it can never undo the horrific experience of their pasts and the harm each of them sustained in the hands of the State. Following engagement with the Taoiseach and the then Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy McEntee, the group ceased its protest on 10 November. The mediation process concluded in December. Arising from this mediation process, the Government also approved proposals to strengthen education and health supports for survivors which are to be delivered under the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025, which was signed into law last July. A very important aspect of today's apology is that it relates to those who were boarded out from relevant institutions. This apology underlines the fact that those who were victims of this industrial abuse, and who were criminalised for so long, do not have a criminal record and will not now be viewed as criminals by the State. A number of other issues, including housing and funeral costs, are also being addressed by the relevant Departments so that survivors can be provided for. Work is ongoing to deliver on commitments given and further details will be provided to survivors as soon as possible. It is nothing less than what you deserve. I commend you all on your determination and resolve. What happened to you was wrong. The suffering you endured as children was wrong and the impact that this has had on your entire lives is wrong.

I welcome this apology. Our State was founded on very lofty principles. Many of them have been delivered but so many of them have not. During the last century, the State fell short in terms of delivering for it citizens. This is one example of that. I met these people in September outside the Dáil. I acknowledge the courage it took for them to take the steps they did, and I am glad that it has resulted in a conclusion or a closure of some sort for them. The apology is merited and appropriate and I welcome the fact it has come. I do, however, think that we are sometimes too slow to apologise. As a State, I understand there are legal considerations, liabilities and all the rest. However, at the end of the day, we know there are instances in our past which constitute as a stain on the history of this State for which we should be sorry, and for which I think we are genuinely sorry, yet bureaucratically we are slow to apologise for. We should not be. When we know something is wrong, we should be willing to stand up to say as much whether that is as a Government or as an individual citizen. We should be able to acknowledge the harms done by the State and by our society in the past. We should be quicker and swifter in acknowledging that because it is only then that we can start to heal the damage that was done. While I welcome this apology, there are many other instances where apologies have been sought and are not yet forthcoming. One group - and I do not propose to talk about them now - are the thalidomide survivors who are also awaiting a real solution. However, I acknowledge the work that has been done by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in meeting them. I hope they progress that process quickly. The most important thing about what we are talking about today is that we, as a polity and as a State, genuinely take on board what has been done in the past that was wrong, hurtful and damaging, acknowledge it with a proper State apology that has been received today and not just the survivors to move on and live their lives, but we, as a State, cannot move on until those apologies are made. I applaud and welcome the fact that the apology has been made. I welcome the package that has been put together and I congratulate those who put it together but when this issue comes up as it will again, let us do it more swiftly. Let us be fair to the people who were wronged by the State and make sure they get what they need and deserve.

Childhood memories should be nuggets of joy and flashbacks of events evoked by the smells, words or actions of others and of happier times. They should make us laugh and smile when we remember. They should be a guide for us, if or when, we are lucky enough to have own children. They should wrap around us like a cosy duvet on dark miserable days. Some of us can point to a teacher who was inspirational, stern, strict, batty or just simply kind. I remember Mrs. Bell who handed out Silvermints when trying to get us prepared for our first communion or Mrs. McKeown who would take us outside to do our lessons on sunny days. Not all days were great days but they were certainly nowhere near the experiences of these brave people who have shared their stories and experiences of horrid abuses. Their childhood memories are mired in darkness as a result of the abuse inflicted on them by the very people who should have had their best interests at heart. They were abused by people who had no regard for their duty of care to these children. They were abused by people who feared no repercussions for their actions. They were abused by people who were possibly admired and respected for how they handled unruly or problematic children or for how they ran their schools. They abused children. Children who were seen but not heard. Children who would not, or could not, dare utter a word of what was happening to them. Children who were not believed. Children abused by monsters. That we, the State, offer an apology is not only right, it is long, long overdue. To those who have suffered, I am sorry. I am so sorry that you had to not only experience these abuses but that you had to wait so long to be heard.

From 21 September to 10 November 2025, Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene, Maurice Patton O'Connell and Miriam Moriarty Owens were forced to go on hunger strike outside this building for 51 days and nights in an attempt for justice. They slept on the streets outside this House in appalling conditions and weather. Their meagre possessions were stolen in what is supposed to be safe Dublin. They did it to represent other survivors. I had the privilege of supporting them by raising their case in this House at the beginning of last November. During my contribution, I pleaded with the Taoiseach to go out, meet the hunger strikers and agree to their reasonable demands. The survivors have been deeply traumatised by the institutional abuse they suffered, and they were retraumatised by the Government's lack of engagement and response. They then faced psychological and health issues following their hunger strike. Their courage, strength and sacrifice in undertaking a hunger strike was not for themselves alone but for all survivors. They undertook the process not just for them but for the 4,000 survivors of residential institutional abuse. Their demands were simple. A State-contributory pension to acknowledge the years of unpaid labour carried out in institutions where children were forced to work without remuneration, education or protection and a Health (Amendment) Act card to help address the lifelong consequences of the abuse they suffered in these industrial and reformatory schools. While the Taoiseach's apology is very welcome, survivors have experienced decades of lip service. Successive Governments have recognised the wrongs, while failing to implement comprehensive survivor-centred solutions. Trust in government and the powers that be have been eroded by decades of inaction. Only decisive action can now change this. The Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025 was introduced by this Government. The Act is a half measure that ignores the needs of survivors. Sinn Féin brought forward amendments which sought to make the legislation equal for all survivors but they were struck down by the Government. Our amendments included a universal health card, a contributory State pension, educational bursaries, financial contributions from religious orders and equal access to all supports under the Act, regardless of whether survivors had received an award of settlement. That is the very least survivors should expect. Significant concerns remain that the legislation is incomplete and does not fully address the lived realities of survivors of institutional abuse. The State continues to shield religious orders from their financial responsibility. It is unacceptable that the State alone should foot the bill for crimes committed by both church and State. Justice delayed has already been justice denied. For survivors of institutional abuse, immediate and decisive action must follow tonight's apology in order to make it valid.

I want to address Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene, Miriam Moriarty Owens and Maurice Patton O'Connell who, over 51 days, became more than just acquaintances. We almost became friends as I passed by every day on my way to my office in Agriculture House and stopped for a cup of coffee. Many times I witnessed ambulances pulling up outside to take one of them away. For 51 days, people who are 70-plus years of age on average had to go out on the street to fight for what was theirs. That these people are survivors. They have proven, over and over again, that they can rise from the ashes because they have gone through it all their lives. They have fought all their lives against sexual abuse - and I am talking about the 4,000 others as well - child slavery, mental abuse and physical abuse. People who I had never met rang me from all over the country to tell me that they were victims of this abuse and recount their stories. They told me how they had planned to travel to Australia when they were in their 30s or 40s or how they planned to travel to the United States. They were afraid to even apply to do so, however, because they feared they may have criminal records. Today, in 2026, when the best of years are behind them - that is the truth - they are being told that they do not have criminal records. The firs apology was issued in 1999. However, 27 years later, we are here issuing another apology because we did not do it correctly in the first place. It beggars belief that we are not apologising for things we got wrong in this State. Nobody is blaming the Taoiseach or his Government directly. These are things that happened in the past. We have to be able to say that this is what happened and that we need to take responsibility for it and correct it. Yet, here we are, 27 years after the first apology in 1999. That should not be the case. These people should have been able to go out the door in 1999 with the apology, accepted it and had all the necessary redresses due to them. I listened to comments being made earlier. I am going to address those comments because some of them made by stomach churn. I say that because I got to know these people very well. These are honourable and trustworthy people. These are people I could tell my darkest secret to. We have known one another for quite some time over the phone, chatting back and forth. These are people I could tell my darkest secret to because they are trustworthy and honourable. When they tell me that something happened to them or that something was said to them by an official in a room, I believe them. One person stood up here and issued their apology, but, at a negotiation, that individual went outside the door and made jokes about and laughed at certain people's conditions and said, "A bit of a hunger strike wouldn't be too bad for one or two of them". I have to salute these people because they shook her hand today. I could not. The comments that were made here today disgusted me, because I know the facts from listening to these people and I know the trustworthiness of these people. When they tell me that story, I have to salute them because they shook her hand today as she went out the door. I could not do it. Well done. That just shows you the honour and decency in these people, and they should never have been treated like that. The Taoiseach used the word "explore" twice on page 8 of his address. Please do not explore any more. Give them what they are entitled to and give them fairness and honesty. Let them go on and have some sort of quality of life and put this awfulness behind them.

I stand today to add my support to the State apology to the victims of horrendous abuse in industrial and reformatory schools. There are not enough words to outline the abuse and absolute horror suffered by these survivors and all victims of abuse. Many of those have lived and suffered in silence. They suffered the stigma for decades and have struggled with pain and anguish. These were children placed in these industrial schools. We know they suffered the most horrendous mistreatment but they had courage and conviction – especially those who undertook a lengthy hunger strike outside these gates – to ensure their most awful experiences were finally heard. They shared their lived experience and still share their living experience. I hope today is one of the better days of their living experience. I want to mention Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene, Miriam Moriarty Owens and Maurice Patton O'Connell. I met Maurice a few years ago. He is the parent of Jason, who is upstairs looking down. I met Maurice when his son was overprescribed medication in south Kerry child and adolescent mental health services. Maurice has outlined Jason’s lost years as a result of the overprescribing, and during really difficult times for himself, Maurice put his family first to advocate for them. I will always remember his powerful advocacy in relation to children who were harmed in Kerry. I hope the Government’s response to what happened in Kerry will deliver for Jason and others and they can go on and have better years. I can only imagine the horror that Maurice is enduring in having to fight the State on two fronts . As Minister of State, I am committed to doing whatever I can to right the wrongs of mental health services in Kerry. The Government is determined to recognise the trauma of what Maurice, the two Marys and Miriam all endured with the apology and the package of supports for survivors. We are committed to a strengthened suite of supports, extending access to tailored health services, counselling, physiotherapy, education payments and compassionate assistance in housing and funeral costs. We are totally committed. I hope these measures can meet the very real needs raised by survivors and reflect the State’s responsibility to respond meaningfully. The State has also affirmed that no survivor should ever be regarded as having a criminal record simply because they were placed in an industrial school, and the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, has clarified this and will issue formal certificates to confirm it. As these commitments are implemented, this moment must represent more than an apology. It must be a turning point, one grounded in dignity, justice and a continuing duty to ensure survivors receive the compassion and support they deserve. What happened to them was wrong and I hope today brings some small comfort to them all.

It is very clear from today's contributions that in the past this country has often failed to treat people equally and it has failed to look after the most vulnerable, especially vulnerable children. In sending vulnerable children to State institutions run by religious orders in many cases, we left them unprotected and open to abuse at the hands of those who are supposed to help and protect them. The Ryan report outlines to a full and heartbreaking extent just how much these vulnerable children suffered abuse and neglect under the harsh institutional regimes. I know that nothing can ever be said or done to unravel the pain and suffering that ensued from these abuses. I previously stated my vision for Ireland as a place where our children and grandchildren can build a decent life for themselves, where all people are treated equally and where our society looks after the most vulnerable. To the survivors present here today, I want to say that I understand how much this past has had a real and lasting impact on all stages of their lives. In reality, in the vast majority of cases, children ended up in these institutions simply because they and their families were poor. In more recent times, we have recognised the hugely detrimental impact that poverty can have on children's lives. I welcome the concerted efforts across the system to tackle child poverty. The importance of this focus was recognised in the establishment of the child poverty and well-being programme office in the Department of the Taoiseach in 2023 to prioritise actions across government in areas that will have the greatest impact for children and families experiencing poverty. This is important work and, as a Government, we must continue to focus on our work to make significant positive changes for families and children who experience poverty. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have spoken today about the many ways in which we have extensively changed and improved our childcare and child protection systems. It is important that we acknowledge the progress made while recognising the importance of continuing vigilance for vulnerable children. Today, we also again recognise the plight of those children who suffered abuse while boarded out. The abuse and neglect that some children experienced while boarded out was truly unforgivable, and the State rightly apologises to them today for what they endured. It is also fitting that we are clearly and unequivocally clarifying the position that the State did not, and does not, regard individuals as having committed a criminal offence, and that no criminal record is recorded against them by virtue of their detention in an industrial school. Likewise, any children who were detained in industrial schools, and subsequently transferred to reformatory schools solely by virtue of their detention in industrial schools, are not considered to have a criminal record. The full range of additional supports being put in place for survivors of institutional abuse has been outlined today. I especially welcome the fact that access to health services for survivors of industrial schools will be strengthened through the implementation of bespoke arrangements for this specific group of survivors, including access to counselling and physiotherapy services. I note that many of the services provided under the HAA card are already available under the enhanced medical card for survivors of residential institutional abuse. It is also welcome that additional health liaison officers will be put in place to support this group of survivors. I understand that arrangements are in train to have these additional supports in place as soon as possible. In conclusion, today is another important chapter in facing up to our past, and in our ongoing efforts to address the terrible impact of institutional abuse on survivors.