Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

Mr. Farrell has said, and I would agree with this from experience, that inquiries work best when they have a defined scope and time. Any inquiry that is absolutely open-ended or has very broad terms of reference can go on for a very long time and I do not believe that is in the interests of the parents, families or children involved. That is why he suggested 2019 to 2025, inclusive, with 2019 marking the establishment of CHI. It is a six-year period. As I said earlier, discretion will be there for the chairperson if issues arise that predate 2019. The chairperson will have discretion to go back and look at those issues. Again, as I said, there will be a call for public input into this and the Minister will continue to engage. There is an issue here. If it is a statutory public inquiry as per the 1921 Act, there is a danger that some may not participate. Quite a number of parents may not want their children to be publicly identified.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-30