The next question, submitted by Deputy Pringle, is specifically on the issue of the collaborative forum. If Deputy Whitmore does not mind, I will address her last question in my reply to Deputy Pringle, in which I will set out my past and future engagements with the forum. I have written separately today to all members of the forum indicating my intention to convene a meeting of it once the report of the commission of investigation has been published. On the wider issue of independent advice, the Adoption Rights Al…

Absolutely. In respect of today's announcement about the publication date, we put survivors first by notifying them even before we notified the Dáil. That was the appropriate thing to do. When the report is published, it will be presented to the survivor groups and individuals concerned before it goes out to the general public. I have said a number of times that we will provide the full allowable GDPR access, but GDPR is not going to solve all the problems. That is something even the Data Protection Commissioner re…

I thank the Deputy for his question. I am committed to strong and ongoing engagement with former residents of mother and baby institutions and their advocates. The process of engagement with the collaborative forum, which was established by my predecessor, Katherine Zappone, as a representative advisory body on issues of priority for former residents, their families and supporters, was interrupted by the general election and the Covid-19 pandemic. It was necessary to put meetings of the forum on hold in the context…

There is work to do and I started that work by reaching out to, and having lengthy and detailed conversations with, many of the forum members. Some of them were very forthright in their views on the issues, as is absolutely appropriate. It was an important first step to rebuilding trust. I made the commitment that we would convene subsequent to the publication of the report. A number of members voiced their dissatisfaction that the forum's own report has never been published, only the recommendations. I made a comm…

Since the Attorney General and I took office, I have found him incredibly supportive in the work that I have done. My engagement with him resulted in GDPR now applying to the archive, a significant step. Everyone has recognised it as such. That should be noted. Obviously the Attorney General is the legal adviser to the Government. I recognise that, in the context of the debate on the database legislation, I took a legalistic approach. I saw a legal problem and saw that as a solution. I am endeavouring to ensure tha…

Tusla has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. This year my Department is providing €25.3 million to Tusla in core funding for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services. I am also providing an additional resource of €2 million to deal with specific once-off Covid issues. Tusla is aware that there were and continue to be issues for those experiencing domestic violence arising from the Covid-19 situation. There may be particular conce…

I agree that getting that information out is important. On Monday, I had the privilege to be present at the launch of an information booklet by the CYPSC, Children and Young People's Services Committees, for Fingal and Dublin north city, giving specific and invaluable information - I think is based on one from Roscommon - on domestic violence services in those particular areas. The Deputy made an important point about local authorities often being the first point of contact. One point discussed during the programme…

On the matter of extra funding from my Department, as I said earlier, we made Covid contingency funding available. An extra €2 million has been put in this year specifically for Covid-related demands. The final tranche of that is being released at the moment. Tusla held it back for the Christmas period knowing the need for demand. A further €2 million Covid contingency will be available for next year from January. As regards the timeline for the audit, we just put out the tender documents and we are reviewing them.…

I appreciate this is a deeply personal and sensitive issue for the former residents of Sean Ross Abbey mother and baby home, their family members and supporters. The Deputy has raised this issue with me on several occasions and I am happy to continue to liaise with him on it. The investigation of burial arrangements of persons who died while resident in mother and baby homes was a key focus in the terms of reference given to the statutory commission of investigation. We already know from the commission's interim re…

It is important that we get the report out and make decisions on anything that happens next as a result of receiving the report. I have committed to engaging directly with the Deputy and with groups he feels should be involved, even prior to the report. I do not know whether the Deputy made specific contact to get me to speak to survivors but I am happy to do so. I have met a significant number of survivors over the past number of weeks and at least one representative of groups from Sean Ross Abbey. I am happy to d…

I am happy to engage with them prior to the publication of the report if the Deputy wants. I will not be able to give a commitment on a new dig until after the report is published because it is important to see what the report says. A very extensive piece of the report is specifically on Sean Ross Abbey and I do not want to give out bits of it. I do not think it is appropriate to do that to survivors or anybody. We will get the report and the Deputy and I can go through those sections in detail, and I can also go t…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 91, 106 and 120 together. I am pleased to confirm that, in order to support parents of children born during the strict lockdown measures, the Government intends to extend parents' leave from two weeks to five weeks for each parent of all children born or adopted on or after 1 November 2019. The Government also intends to extend the period in which parents' leave can be taken up until that child turns two years or, in the case of an adoption, two years after the adoption placement da…

Deputy McAuliffe is at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts and gave his apologies. We cannot grant additional leave until the legislation is passed. Once the legislation is passed the leave can be granted. There is a technical issue with regard to the arrangements for payment of the benefit. The Department of Social Protection is under a lot of pressure at present with the Covid payments. It is doing a huge amount more than it normally would. We will try to speed up the process so that benefit can be prov…

For either the extra three weeks' leave for parents who had their child during the last year, or the full five weeks' leave for new parents of children going forward, that can only be taken once the legislation is passed. We have to get the legislation passed first. However, once the legislation is passed, if a parent took their two weeks of original parents' leave in January of this year, they will be able to take the additional three weeks leave in the forthcoming year. It is provided to make sure that parents wh…

In May 2019, the Facing the Future Together conference was organised by the Christine Buckley Centre to mark the 20th anniversary of the State apology to survivors and the ten-year anniversary of the publication of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the Ryan report. The primary focus of the conference was on persons who had suffered abuse as children in industrial and reformatory schools and other residential institutions which cared for children. In addition to the conference acting as a com…

When the report of the commission of investigation is published in the second week of January, the Government will also be publishing its action plan on how it is responding to the various recommendations and a number of these recommendations will be in the field of health and supports. We are working to ensure that the immediate recommendations are immediately in place at that stage and in particular to ensure there are strong counselling services in place for what is going to be a very difficult time for many sur…

I would be conscious, from my own engagement with survivors over recent weeks, of that wide range of impacts, including very profound impacts, that time in these institutions has had on survivors. One of the points we committed to in the Government statement made in October of this year was to advance a piece of research on the actual impact on survivors, and that is something we are undertaking in conjunction with the HSE. We have a very clear understanding of the types of impacts that have been faced by survivors…

In line with the commitments in the national LGBTI+ inclusion strategy, my Department continues work on mapping of LGBTI+ community services. Last week, I announced 29 projects around the country that will receive funding to a total amount of €700,000 under the 2020 LGBTI+ community services fund. The fund comprises two schemes, one dealing with community services and the other with visibility and inclusion. The applications received were of a high standard and the application process was extremely competitive. Som…

I thank the Deputy. I would be aware of the huge amount of work GOSHH does in the mid-west. It combines a range of services that add a community element to those vital health-based supports. GOSHH submitted an application under the funding call and I am pleased to be able to say that it received funding for its rainbow development project of €75,500. It is a significant investment and recognition of the very important work that organisation does in Limerick and in the mid-west. On the smaller scale of things, but e…

I thank the Deputy. As we celebrated World AIDS Day on the first day of this month it is an important time to raise the need for this very important health service to be reopened. It was an issue that was discussed at the steering group of the national LGBTI+ strategy, of which I am a member. A number of representatives in the group raised their concerns about the continued closure of the gay men's health clinic due to the Covid-19 restrictions. To update the Deputy, I have written to the Minister for Health, Deput…