Ged Nash: Apology in Dáil and call for state accountability
Ged Nash addresses survivors in the Dáil, marking a formal apology and urging the state to put in place processes that acknowledge past wrongs. He highlights that a scoping report into the conduct of Michael Shine has reached cabinet and praises the work of the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health in supporting survivors.
Ged Nash frames the sitting as being for survivors, welcoming the formal apology in the Dáil and expressing hope that the moment will mark an important milestone towards healing. He acknowledges the long denial of redress and the need for the state to recognise wrongs done to individuals.
Nash notes the significance of a scoping report on Michael Shine having been submitted to cabinet on the same day as the apology. He sees this as a consequential step in examining institutional failures and supporting survivors who have engaged with the process.
The speaker urges the state to institute processes that formally acknowledge wrongdoing and to learn from how institutions handled abuse in Waterford and elsewhere. He stresses the importance of structural change to prevent repetition and to serve all citizens better.
Speaking on behalf of the Labour Party, Ged Nash pays tribute to survivors for their engagement in the process and expresses the hope that some form of healing can emerge, while acknowledging that an apology cannot erase the experience of victims.
Apology and recognition
Ged Nash frames the sitting as being for survivors, welcoming the formal apology in the Dáil and expressing hope that the moment will mark an important milestone towards healing. He acknowledges the long denial of redress and the need for the state to recognise wrongs done to individuals.
Michael Shine scoping report
Nash notes the significance of a scoping report on Michael Shine having been submitted to cabinet on the same day as the apology. He sees this as a consequential step in examining institutional failures and supporting survivors who have engaged with the process.
State responsibility and learning
The speaker urges the state to institute processes that formally acknowledge wrongdoing and to learn from how institutions handled abuse in Waterford and elsewhere. He stresses the importance of structural change to prevent repetition and to serve all citizens better.
Tribute and hope for healing
Speaking on behalf of the Labour Party, Ged Nash pays tribute to survivors for their engagement in the process and expresses the hope that some form of healing can emerge, while acknowledging that an apology cannot erase the experience of victims.
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Transcript
Thank you and as my colleague Deputy Batchick said today absolutely is for you and today is about you and I hope that today marks an important milestone for you and a step on the road to a form of healing that has been denied to you all for far too long and can I say and if survivors in the gallery will indulge me for a moment I think it is serendipitous that on the day in which an apology is formally made to you in the Dáil for the wrongs that this state has done to you that a report has gone to cabinet in respect of scoping exercise into the conduct of Michael Shine. It is very important that of course today is absolutely about the process that we're dealing with here today but I do want to acknowledge all of the intensive work that Taoiseach that you've done the Minister for Health in supporting the survivors and victims of Michael Shine and that we will see progress as I expect we will at some point in the future and probably far too often in this house but it is a good thing that we are coming to terms with the challenges of our past in this country finally going to terms with it and nothing will change the experience of the survivors of Keneally or indeed anybody else but it is important crucially important that the state institutes processes that acknowledges wrong ensures that insofar as we can that the state acknowledges that and works towards a better future and that we learn from how the state and institutions that were involved in the form of abuse that has been experienced in Waterford and elsewhere that we all acknowledge that and we do better on behalf of all citizens in this country it is important that we do that it's important we move on from that and I want to again pay tribute on behalf of the Labour Party to all of you for your engagement in in this process and I hope as I said earlier on that some form of healing can emerge from this.