Senator Bacik supports a call for debate on the Ryan Report.

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: I support calls made by other colleagues for a debate on some issues arising from the Ryan report. I found it incredibly moving yesterday to stand outside Leinster House with the many survivors and victims of abuse present, and to hear the names of over 200 Catholic-run institutions being read out while people stood in silence. Many were very emotional as the names of the institution in which they had been held were read out. It was a particularly poignant solidarity march and it is important we acknowledge that.

It is interesting that the march occurred on the same day that we heard revelations on RTE about the obstructionism and dismissal of allegations of abuse by the church authorities at the time the negotiations were conducted in 2002. It would be irresponsible of us not to debate the bigger issues arising from the Ryan report. As my colleague Senator Norris stated, first among these must be the way in which the indemnity agreement was conducted in 2002, and particularly the role of Deputy Michael Woods in conducting it. Serious questions must be asked about that.

There are other questions. There was a great deal of abuse in institutions not covered by the agreement, such as the Magdalene institutions mentioned by others and national schools where children were not resident but where we know abuse was carried out. We must look at the extension of the redress scheme to those institutions and the lack of outside regulation of residential institutions in which children and adults with disabilities are still being held today. There was an excellent article by Ms Deirdre Carroll of Inclusion Ireland in yesterday's The Irish Times which highlighted the absence of regulation as to the conditions in which children and adults with disabilities are held.

As Senator Alex White indicated, there are the important issues of governance of schools and general children's rights, which arise from any consideration of the Ryan report. It is not accurate to say, as Catholic bishops appeared to last night, that these matters are just in the past. We must consider how our schools are currently being managed and whether we are respecting children's rights fully in our education and welfare systems.