Blame game has to stop and communication start

As a survivor of abuse, I want to make a few short points.

The Statutory Fund was rushed through the last day of the Dáil.

The fund is not transparent.

For example, survivors’ children are excluded from it.

The support groups who agreed to the fund did not speak for the majority of us.

Today I feel my pain and suffering is being prostituted by Minister Quinn.

Why? The minister wants possession of the property, that is the Statutory Fund.

The property was to be put in trust for survivors, not for the State.

As for secular education, that is a parent’s choice, not the State’s.

Finally, most of us were put into institutions by either the courts or health boards, some with a recommendation from the ISPCA.

Where does the blame stop?

I conclude the State had the last word then, as they do now.

The blame game has to stop and communication has to start.

Catherine Coffey

Mayfield

Cork