Not under the amendment I have tabled. I hope that is something we can address in the wider scope of things, but I am not able to provide for that today. However, I recognise that it is an issue.

I have not seen the article in detail, but my understanding, including from what has been stated in the Chamber, is that it refers to the 2018 Act and its amendment of section 39 of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004. That is not what my Bill addresses. Rather, my Bill addresses the transfer of the database from the archive to Tusla. That is an important point. We have all highlighted our concerns about the interpretation that I am relying on of the breadth of the amended section 39. I indicated my intention…

I will finish.

I need to engage with the Attorney General on the DPC's advice on the application of section 39 of the 2004 Act and the amendment made to same in 2018. This matter is not contained within my Bill, which is still important if we are to maintain the database. This is relevant to the wider issues that we have all agreed need to be addressed in the context of the application of GDPR. I flagged it as something that we would have to address. Doing so has become even more urgent now.

These relate to the matter we discussed in the Seanad last week regarding personal stories. These sets of amendments make provision for that opt-in to redaction, working on the basis of restoring agency to those people who came before the commission. They deliver on that.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter, which is incredibly important and sensitive. I am aware of the specific issue she alluded to, and I have been in correspondence with an individual in that regard. As the Senator knows, our country has in the past failed to protect its children, and that failure weighs heavily on all of us. Abuse is not consigned to the past, though, and it is my role, in collaboration with Tusla and An Garda Síochána, to protect children where there is a clear existing threat. Tusla's ro…

I spent some time speaking about what Tusla is doing to mitigate current risk because that is Tusla's primary role. I am not taking away from anything the Senator said but that is the job of Tusla, namely, to deal with current risk. The role of dealing with historical abuse - "past abuse" is probably a better term in many ways - lies with An Garda Síochána through prosecution. We are aware of the concerns that have been raised. As to the degree of significance the Senator outlined, I had not heard that expression r…

I am aware of the real rawness of the issues that we are discussing for the survivors of mother and baby homes. I am also aware that this debate, particularly over the past two weeks, has exacerbated that rawness. That does not sit easily with me. I am bringing forward a Bill today whose purpose is to protect a database created by the commission on mother and baby homes. The commission and I believe this database will be of significant benefit to the many mothers and children who were separated by the process of th…

I will address the issue of GDPR first, which was raised by Deputies Whitmore, Harkin and others. I have seen the article by Dr. Maeve O'Rourke and other articles have addressed this particular issue as well. My Department has engaged extensively with the Attorney General's office on this issue and the advice we have received, to which the Department is bound, is that the GDPR right of access to personal data set out in Article 15 of the GDPR is expressly prohibited by section 39 of the Commissions of Investigation…

In response to the queries about the issue of delay and the sealing of the archive, I have said that I want to look at the sealing of the archive, particularly in the context of personal information. I am being asked to completely remove the sealing of the archive, which is provided for in the 2004 Act and which comprises the commission's work in the past five years. Everything the three members of the commission have done has been on the basis that the archive would be sealed. They operated on the understanding th…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

Ireland's recent history is sadly littered with a legacy of failings related to the care of our citizens in institutional settings. This is no less true for the mother and baby homes and county homes that operated in this country throughout much of the previous century. Our most fundamental duty today is to acknowledge the profound failures and mistreatment of Irish women and their children. They were cruelly deprived of their choice and agency and in so many cases were coerced into institutional settings that were…

I thank all the Deputies for their incredibly heartfelt contributions to this debate. The debate starkly demonstrates the sensitivities and complexities around this particular issue. All Deputies have tried to convey the sense they have received from the emails, calls and texts and from the people they know personally. There is a real anxiety around access to information for those who were directly involved in mother and baby homes and in other institutional settings. The legislation before us tonight is a unique o…

The national childcare scheme represents a significant step forward in combating the poverty traps that previous targeted childcare schemes created. It removes many of the restrictive eligibility requirements, for example, dependency on social protection payments. I emphasise that those using school-aged childcare services are not ineligible for the national childcare scheme. In fact, 45 subsidised hours are available where parents are engaged in work, training or study and 20 subsidised hours are available for par…

I thank the Deputy. I have engaged quite extensively with her colleague, Deputy Ó Murchú, on this issue. This is a new scheme, it is in its first year and we are in the middle of a pandemic. The manner of informing the sponsor bodies of their obligations and letting parents know about what is available has not worked as it should have and I fully accept this. This is why we have been engaging with the sponsor bodies, in particular on what they can offer. With regard to Tusla, it can be a sponsor for any child up to…

I thank the Deputy. I will be able to address some of these issues in later questions from her and other Deputies. I am always open to reviews and examining in particular new structures to ensure they operate as effectively as possible. This is why I have had extensive engagement with Deputy Ó Murchú and other Deputies on this point. A significant part of the issue is the newness of the scheme and the lack of information out there. The Deputy mentioned services that have closed. We have the sustainability fund and …

The Tusla education support service, TESS, operates under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000 and aims to promote attendance, participation and retention. Under section 22 of the Act, each school is obliged to have a statement of strategies to encourage regular attendance among all students. The school principal must ensure that the strategies outlined are followed, that parents are informed at the earliest possible point of the school’s concern regarding attendance and that the school follows the graded steps outline…

I have experience with children with significant degrees of autism in my constituency having extended absences. One of the key aspects is providing wider levels of support to allow those children, in some cases, to integrate partially in school through an autism spectrum disorder, ASD, unit, more of which have been rolled out. For children who can engage at that level, they are a fantastic development. There are other children, however, whose degree of autism is so profound that even in the context of that separate…

My colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has been working very hard to address that issue of very significant backlogs for children who require these services, for both the initial diagnosis and subsequent access to the services. That is crucial and I welcome the work she has been doing in that area in conjunction with the Minister for Education and Skills. It is important that in this year's budget, we provided funding for an additional 235 special class teachers in 2021, which will provide education f…

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. In 2020, my Department provided funding of €25.3 million for Tusla's core domestic violence services, supporting 60 organisations in various parts of the country. The Department is also providing additional supports to Tusla to allow these services to cope with the additional complications arising from Covid-19. Some €800,000 has been provided to these services. I an…