All-party motion

Friday, June 12, 2009
The following is the text of the all-party motion for the two-day Dáil debate on institutional child abuse:

That Dáil Éireann:
accepts the conclusions of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and in particular the failure of the State and the religious congregations running the institutions to protect the children who were placed in these institutions from abuse;

acknowledges the pain and suffering endured by the former residents of institutions and that the commission’s report vindicates their claims of abuse and that crimes were committed by members of the religious congregations and others against children placed in care;

expresses its revulsion at the extent, severity and nature of the abuse suffered by children in residential institutions; restates the sincere apology of the House to the victims of childhood abuse for the failure to intervene, to detect their pain and come to their rescue;

notes that the Minister for Children will be submitting a plan for the implementation of the recommendations of the commission’s report to the Government for its approval by the end of July;
restates the acceptance by the House of all of the recommendations contained in the commission’s report and its support for their full implementation;
declares its resolve to cherish all of the children of the nation equally;
acknowledges that the State has an obligation to ensure that children and young people in the care of the State receive the highest possible quality of care and to provide services to protect them, as far as possible, from all forms of harm;
acknowledges that everything possible must be done to ensure the grievous mistakes of the past are not repeated in the future and underlines the importance of the Government’s commitment to fully implement the recommendations of the commission’s report including, in particular, to ensure the uniform application throughout the State of the Children First: National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children of 1999;

notes that the Taoiseach has met with representatives of the former residents of the institutions and the commitment to further engagement with them;

notes that the Taoiseach has met with representatives of the congregations at which their attention was drawn to the motion passed by Dáil Éireann on May 28th;
notes that the Taoiseach called on the congregations to make further substantial contributions by way of reparation; considers that the assessment of proposals for such a contribution must have regard to the needs of the former residents as well as the costs of over €1 billion being incurred by the State on redress;
notes that the congregations agreed in their meeting with the Taoiseach to make full and transparent disclosure of their resources;
notes that both in the meetings with former residents, and the congregations, support was expressed for the proposal that the use of a further substantial contribution from the congregations should include a form of independent trust to be set up by the State which would be available to support the needs of survivors for general education and welfare purposes;
supports the request of the former residents for representation on the proposed trust;

notes that, while the committal of children to industrial schools did not involve a criminal conviction and that no criminal records arise from that committal, the Government will give further consideration to ways of meeting the concerns of victims in this regard;

notes that the Assistant Garda Commissioner has been tasked with examining the totality of the commission’s report and that criminal investigations are continuing in respect of a significant number of people;

notes the commitment of the religious congregations and orders to fully co-operate with the Garda in any criminal investigation being conducted;

notes that the Government is considering the request of the former residents of institutions, made at their meeting with the Taoiseach, to re-examine the terms of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 in respect of the confidentiality attached to awards and the application period;

and notes the desirability that, in so far as possible, all of the documentation received by and in the possession of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse is preserved for posterity and not destroyed.