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.

Sentiment score: 0.07