Reports are usually referred to a committee without any debate in the House. However, if the House feels a short debate during the morning of approximately 20 minutes is desirable, I will not object to it.
I thank the Labour Party for raising the issues. I undertook to consider them and there are two points that may resolve the matter. I have been advised by the Attorney General that the definition of abuse in the Inquiry into Child Abuse Act, 2000, includes any wilful infliction of physical injury or failure to prevent such injury to a child and any failure to care for a child or act or omission towards a child which has serious adverse effects on the child's behaviour or welfare.
In so far as clinical trials are alleged to have been conducted without the appropriate consent and in so far as these trials are alleged to have included the use of injections and intra-nasal administration of drugs, clearly an issue arises as to whether any such trial amounts in law to an assault or unlawful invasion of the physical integrity of the children involved.
Likewise, the consequences of participating in any such trials are matters relating to the welfare of the children. All these issues fall within the scope of the commission as expressed in section 1 of the Act. The suggestion, helpfully made by Deputy McManus, was that acts must be proved to amount to abuse and to have affected the welfare of the child before the commission can inquire into them and therefore, it does not stand. The wording of the Act, in particular section 4(1) (v) makes it clear that one of the functions of the commission is to establish whether acts capable of amounting to abuse actually occurred or whether it is a matter of fact such acts amount to abuse rather than what effect they had on any children concerned. On the second point made by Deputy Quinn, that we must make sure we tie this down and do not run into difficulties, I asked the Attorney General to consult the Laffoy commission to make sure that we know about all matters. The Laffoy commission proposes to consider the issues raised by the report as a separate heading within its inquiry. They will examine what they need separately within the inquiry. The commission will consider whether any order under section 4(4) is necessary or appropriate to assist the commission in this respect. They will examine the report and if there is any aspect they believe under section 4(4) that they need to tie down tighter, they will come back to us. I assure the House that the Government's intention is to fully consult the commission on that issue as envisaged by the Act and to make that necessary order which is provided for in the Act under section 4(4). If any such order is made, it will need the approval of the House. I hope that deals with the point.
