I want to return to the issue of the mother and baby homes. I understand that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, brought a memo to Cabinet today. As has been articulated, the wrongs of these mother and baby homes are accepted by everyone in this House. I believe we all recognise that many of the victims and survivors are elderly and in ill health. In 2016, the commission said in its second interim report that children who had been resident at the Bethany Home and at other county and mother and baby homes should be eligible for the residential institutions redress scheme. This, however, has not happened. Derek Leinster has described the refusal to extend redress to those survivors until the commission concludes its final report, which will now be 2020, as a delay and deny until they die approach.

I ask the Deputy to put a question.

It is hard to disagree with that analysis. I put it to the Taoiseach that survivors of the Bethany Home and Westbank Orphanage have a particular issue in that they feel and believe their exclusion was, to some extent, sectarian in nature because these were Protestant institutions. That needs to be fixed. Why will the Taoiseach not embrace the survivors of the Bethany Home and why will he not now immediately extend to them the existing redress scheme?

I will address that question. On the Government's decision with regard to the Bethany Home survivors and the commission's recommendation, it is correct that the other Governments made decisions not to include the Bethany Home survivors in the original redress scheme. This Government confirmed and agreed with that even though the commission recommended it should be considered to be included in the scheme. We reviewed it and, along with other previous Governments, did not agree with that.

It is important to say that the Bethany Home is included in the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. When the commission reports, it will include that home.

On the response to the Bethany Home survivors, and I believe the Taoiseach has referred to this, I established an independent, collaborative forum of representative stakeholders to offer recommendations on health and well-being supports, especially with regard to concerns for the Bethany Home survivors. That report is now with me.