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.

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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.

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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.

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