Perfect. Amendment No. 21 concerns compensation. The Minister talks about Sage and other advocacy groups. She will again collaborate with me, and will do so with her, to work on some sort of scheme she thinks is proportionate, right and appropriate. I presume that is based on what we have said. I am open to hear back what she is saying, but I want to confirm that she will come back with some proposal on that for Report Stage. That is important. Could we clarify that? We will not be calling votes on those. It was my…

I move amendment No. 19: In page 9, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: “(iii) the payments for educational services shall be subject to a review on an annual basis.”. In light of the Minister's agreement that we will collaborate and work together on Report Stage, I will withdraw the amendment.

Just to clarify, the Minister and I have agreed, in this open forum, that we will engage and work on some form of commitment with regard to the amendment.

On that basis, I will withdraw the amendment.

I move amendment No. 20: In page 9, between lines 28 and 29 to insert the following: “Report on The Special Advocate (for survivors of institutional abuse) 7. Within nine months of the commencement of this Act, the Minister shall, lay a report before the Houses of the Oireachtas on the range of supports that can be provided by the Special Advocate for survivors of institutional abuse.”. For clarity, does this amendment relate to Sage Advocacy or is that amendment No. 21? I ask the Minister to respond if she wishes …

I will withdraw the amendment.

I move amendment No. 21: In page 9, between lines 28 and 29 to insert the following: “Sage Advocacy 7. Within nine months of the commencement of this Act, the Minister shall lay a report before the Houses of the Oireachtas on the range of supports that will be provided by Sage Advocacy for survivors of institutional abuse.”. For clarity, the Minister and I will collaborate in regard to Sage Advocacy.

Will the Minister give her response to amendment No. 21?

To clarify, I never said Sage Advocacy would make the recommendations; I said the Minister would make them. The amendment states, "Within nine months of the commencement of this Act, the Minister shall lay" not Sage Advocacy.

In light of what will follow in a minute, I withdraw the amendment.

I move amendment No. 22: In page 9, between lines 28 and 29 to insert the following: “Report on the role of the Sage Advocacy 7. Within nine months of the commencement of this Act, the Minister shall, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas on how the Sage Advocacy can be empowered, supported, and resourced to assist individual survivors to access supports and provisions listed in this Act.”. The Minister and I said we would collaborate and work together on this amendment. Will the Minister clarify that?

Okay.

On the basis that we will collaborate on that, I am happy to withdraw this amendment.

I move amendment No. 23: In page 9, between lines 28 and 29 to insert the following: “Report on increased supports for all former residents and survivors of institutional, industrial and reformatory schools 7. Within nine months of the commencement of this Act, the Minister shall, lay a report before the Houses of the Oireachtas detailing how all the supports, services and entitlements provided by Health (Amendment) Act Card (HAA Card) can be made available to all former residents and survivors of Institutional, In…

I move amendment No. 24: In page 9, between lines 28 and 29 to insert the following: “Supports for the excluded 7. Sage Advocacy shall be able to make recommendations to Government so that health services and education supports can be allocated to former residents who’ve been excluded from this Bill and previous redress schemes. The Minister shall have the ability to approve the recommendations made by a Sage Advocacy on a case-by-case basis.”. We have covered this pretty well. I thank the Minister for reaching out…

At the core of this is redress and acknowledgement of a wrong. Earlier, I referred to the indemnity scheme of this State that was signed at Merrion Square, Dublin 2, on 5 June 2002 by the then Ministers for Finance and Education and Science, predecessors of the Minister present. I have in front of me copies of the signatures, the seals of office on the Government's legal advice and the commitments given. I am sure all this is still available on a website. It is interesting that many of the religious organisations a…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish, to the Seanad today. We go back a hell of a long time. I will not tell anyone here but we have known each other for many years and we have soldiered together on many things in politics. I very much look forward to engaging with him today on all aspects of his brief. As he has said, his brief is primarily focused on food production, new markets, and research and development at the Department of agriculture. He has a very formidable team up there. As a member of the O…

The Minister of State is so good. We will listen to him.

I welcome the Minister of State. I spoke to the Minister for Education and Youth yesterday outside the Seanad and she indicated that she hoped to be here for this Commencement matter but, clearly, she is unable to attend. I am sorry about that but I thank and welcome the Minister of State for agreeing to step in. I acknowledge that it is not his Department but I will set out the case as I understand it to be. I was contacted by the independent councillor Michael Fleming from Stepaside in Dublin who asked me to meet…

As the Minister of State was reading, I was going through his reply line by line, and with the last line I wondered if we were talking about the same place at all. The last line states that "Mountainside Montessori should consider all other options available to it". It is not very encouraging for a Government policy that is encouraging them. However, what this does, and this is what I always say about these things, is that it puts it on the record, so there is no talking out of both sides of people's mouths in the …