All the bigwig Ministers are here. A few things have to be stated very honestly. Those four survivors were left outside there for over 40 days and, but for Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene and Maurice Patton O'Connell suffering and putting their health at risk, nothing would have been given. I remember raising this on the floor of the Dáil. I think Catherine Connolly, who is now the President, raised it during Leaders' Questions. I think I raised it during Questions on Policy or Legislation on the same day. The answer we got back was that the Government was not giving into emotional blackmail. I want to clarify what has been conceded to the survivors. I put my glasses on a couple of times to check this. Instead of a pension, they are being given a yearly payment of €600. Is that correct? That is €4 per week and we are expected to think that is okay, bearing in mind the free labour that was done in reformatory schools. A host of things that seem to have been discussed and asked for by the survivors have not been given. They make the point that there are 4,000 other people who are looking for lifelong supports that they still have not got. The Government goes on about one-off payments during the cost-of-living crisis but these are all one-off measures so that they do not exist for other people as well. A figure of €600 per year is an insult and should be looked at again. I pay homage to them for their determination and consistency in raising this issue. I acknowledge once again people who have been the victims of the church-State nexus. First cousins of my mother were in reformatory schools. We all only found out about it much later in life. We did not know anything about them and they had lifelong suffering and torment as a result of what they experienced there. The damage to people's psychological and physical health has not been fully acknowledged at all by what has been given. Once again, the Irish State is covering up its role in past abuses.

Sentiment score: -0.07