We will not have any row in front of the neighbours, hopefully. I call Deputy McDonald.

We will try. I want to raise the case of Majella Moynihan. I am sure all of us, listening as Majella told her devastating story, have been moved and deeply saddened by her experiences. For those of us who were children in the 1980s, I think this transported us back to that Ireland - that awful, oppressive, misogynistic Ireland. Majella told her story. She told of her background as a child, her experience of growing up in an industrial school and then, in 1983, how she landed her dream job, and the pride she felt, walking through the gates of Templemore to become a member of An Garda Síochána. By all accounts, she was an effective garda. She was described as honest, dependable and willing. Of course, she was not to have a successful career in An Garda Síochána because she was in a relationship and she became pregnant. For that transgression, she was vilified, isolated and damaged in the most fundamental ways. On 31 May 1984, Majella gave birth to her son at University Hospital Galway. She says that when she left the hospital, she did so in a trance. Heartbreakingly, she describes the situation whereby her child was taken away from her and she was coerced into allowing the child to be put up for adoption. She describes that as the worst day of her life. Then, she was subjected to an internal Garda investigation. She was lucky she was not sacked, because of the intervention of the Archbishop, but she was brought to heel and disciplined for the transgression of being pregnant and having a child outside of wedlock. She was then brought to an internal inquiry at which the behaviour of the father of her child, also a garda, was investigated.

All of these things happened and Majella has now stepped forward to tell her story. The Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice and Equality have apologised, quite correctly, to her in recent days. She is due to meet the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, and, I understand, the Minister for Justice and Equality in the coming days. I want to ask the Taoiseach is it now time for him to apologise to Majella on behalf of the State. Since she came forward, others have followed suit in order to tell their stories. Anne Cleary, a retired garda who was based in Fitzgibbon Street station in the 1980s, has said that the top brass were very influenced by the church’s teachings.

Who was not in those times? She tells of one girl who kept her baby and another who gave up her child for adoption.

Thank you, Deputy.

She tells of how these had traumatic effects on people's lives. She describes a culture of fear. Are there more Majellas out there? What will the Taoiseach do to establish the full facts? Majella said yesterday that she spoke with Deputy Michael Noonan who was Minister for Justice in 1983, but she spoke to him ten years ago and at that point he said to her that this was an internal Garda matter.

Time is up, Deputy, please.

The mind boggles as to how this could ever have been an internal Garda matter. I understand that Deputy Michael Noonan has not responded to this matter. Should he now make a statement and has the Taoiseach spoken with him on the issue?

I thank the Deputy. In response to her questions, I have not spoken to Deputy Michael Noonan about it. I do not know if there are more Majellas out there - there may well be. I would have no difficulty apologising to those women on behalf of the State but I would like to know the facts and be able to answer the questions raised by the Deputy today before doing that.

This is a story that has very much gripped the nation in the last couple of days. I pay tribute to the RTÉ radio "Documentary on One" team for once again putting together a really fascinating programme that gives us further insight into our country and into our past. It is a true example of public service broadcasting and I want to recognise that here. It was deeply moving. It was almost unbelievable except that those of us who did grow up in Ireland in the 1980s can believe how it was true. What was done to her was wrong on every level. Her privacy was invaded. She was made to feel shame. She was pressurised to give up her child and the way she was penalised was deeply sexist when one considers that the man involved was only subject to a fine. It demonstrates to us how much our State and our country have changed for the better since the 1980s, and before, but there are many wrongs that have still to be righted.

I very much welcome the fact that Commissioner Harris has offered an apology and that that apology has been repeated and echoed on behalf of the Government by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charles Flanagan. Mr. Harris will meet her in person and the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, has asked that he be involved in that meeting too. I think that is what should happen next. That meeting should occur between Ms Moynihan and the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice and Equality and, perhaps, we can take things from there. As she is the one at the centre of this they should be allowed to hear from her rather than us debating here what the next step should be. The next step should be for her and the Commissioner to meet, and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, would like to be able to attend that meeting with her consent.

I agree with the Taoiseach that the next steps must in the first instance be dictated by Majella but I also think that the State has an obligation, retrospectively, to ensure, for example, that she is awarded her full pension. There is an obligation on the State not to speculate that there may well be other Majellas but to establish the full facts of the matter. It seems anecdotally that this was not an isolated case. There is an obligation to investigate if it is true, or not, that there were more Majellas and, if so, how many?

It is important that the serving Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, having rightly echoed an apology to Majella, should establish that we are now living in a new time. The then serving Minister for Justice in 1983, Deputy Michael Noonan, as recently as ten years ago described this as an internal Garda matter. It is very important that that matter is clarified. I would imagine that Deputy Noonan would welcome the opportunity to clarify this matter.

Thank you, Deputy.

The Taoiseach is right that those of us who grew up in the 1980s recognise this atmosphere and ideology as set out through Majella's story. It is important in the here and now that we give absolute assurances, and that it is made absolutely clear, that we in fact live in a different Ireland. On that basis, the former Minister for Justice, Deputy Michael Noonan, should make a statement and should clarify this matter.

Many people have served as Minister for Justice since 1983. I am not sure how many but it could be a dozen people. I do not think this is about trying to have a go at a politician or former Minister for Justice. This is about Majella Moynihan and hearing her story. It is about understanding the wrongs that were done in our past, offering an apology to her from the Garda Commissioner, which has happened, and an apology from the Minister for Justice and Equality, and then allowing them to meet with her to talk about what the next steps forward should be. This should not be an occasion for political interaction such as that.