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.

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