Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01 ============================================================ Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow If we are to have an honest debate around this it would be helpful if we listened to each other. It would be very helpful if Deputy Rice had listened to what the Taoiseach said in the House yesterday when this issue was raised. It is not helpful to the many parents who engaged with Mr. Farrell's scoping inquiry. He is a very eminent senior counsel, which I am sure Deputy Rice would accept, who has done a very comprehensive piece of work. He has listened to so many people and read so many documents. It is he, not me and not Deputy Rice, who has come to the view in his independent scoping inquiry. Deputy Rice would probably be asking a lot more serious questions if we decided to ignore the independent scoping inquiry and what the independent senior counsel has said. It is utterly wrong, and legally wrong, to suggest that a commission of inquiry is all or mainly held in private. The Taoiseach as the head of the Government was very clear yesterday on this issue and let me make it very clear again. The Leader of the Opposition yesterday rightly, accurately and fairly acknowledged that there may well be parents and others who wish to co-operate with a statutory inquiry in private, as is their right. There may well be, and will be, others who will want to give their evidence in public as, in my view, is their right. The mechanism of a commission of inquiry allows for this latitude. It allows for parts of an inquiry to be held in public and for parts of an inquiry to be held in private. We have to respect both because there are families who have gone through hell and back and the most unimaginable agony. Some of the families are known to people in the Oireachtas because they have felt the need to speak out and speak up, as is their right. There are other families whose names none of us know and they have as much right to be heard. We have got to get this structure right. What we have said very clearly is the lengthy scoping inquiry report, which is about 134 pages or thereabouts, from Mr. Farrell has been published. There will now be engagement on the terms of reference through the Minister for Health with the advocacy groups. This should happen. The terms of reference will then have to be put before this House. This House has to ratify them so everyone here will have a role. We have to be very clear in giving effect in this process to what the Taoiseach said yesterday, and I am now paraphrasing him, on the latitude the chairperson will have in terms of the timeframe. There should be no rigidity around 2019 or anything like that. This is about getting it right. We know, and those of us who have been in the House for quite a period of time know too, that getting the terms of reference right matters and getting the chairperson right matters, as does making sure there is ongoing engagement. The trust of the advocacy groups in the chairperson will be absolutely key. The Government has agreed, and has been crystal clear, on the need for a statutory inquiry. We put in place Mr. Farrell who, I am sure Deputy Rice will accept, is completely independent. He is a very robust and competent senior counsel. We have published his report for all to see and we will now see that there is engagement. The Department of Health will work closely in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, and there will be a call for input from advocacy groups on the terms of reference. I really do want to say that. The final terms of reference will come back to the Government for approval. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-10-01