More than two years ago, 18 distraught families learned that their children's organs had been sent to Belgium for incineration without their knowledge or consent. The South/Southwest Hospital Group was to complete and publish a report on the incidents at Cork University Maternity Hospital with the involvement of the affected families. In September 2020, the Minister for Health encouraged families to participate in the review. He stated, "the hospital group has committed to completing it by early November." It was not even commenced until April of the following year and promised again for November last year. It is now November 2022 and there is still no final report. A commitment was given that the families would get a draft copy of the report by the end of September at the latest. This morning, however, we learned that these families have been locked out of the process and that they will not get a first look at the report. That is shameful.

Sparked by that incident, an audit of organ retention and disposal practices was commissioned by the HSE. That report examined multiple hospitals and was completed far in advance of the report into Cork University Maternity Hospital. It found that similar unethical practices were taking place in Limerick, Drogheda, Galway, Tullamore, Portiuncula and Crumlin. Worst of all, it found that a single consultant named by "RTÉ Investigates" earlier this year, but known as Consultant A, was responsible for a significant amount of this malpractice. This is made worse by the fact that Consultant A had previously been removed from his duties at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin in 2007. At some point, the HSE recommissioned Consultant A's services.

In the 13 years since the publication of the report to which I refer in 2009, successive Governments have promised to legislate and have failed to do so. The devastating consequences of this failure for parents and families should be obvious to us all. Last July, in response to Teachta McDonald in this House, the Taoiseach made three commitments to the families affected by these failures. The first was that the bereaved families affected by the scandal at Cork University Maternity Hospital would be given access to the report without further delay. That has not happened. The second was that the HSE audit would be published. The audit was delayed by six months and had to be forced out of the system by means of a freedom of information request. The third was that the Government would publish the human tissue Bill this autumn. That has not happened either.

I have three clear questions for the Tánaiste. Will he compel the HSE to give the families access to the report this week? They have been calling for this for years. They have been promised it time and again. We cannot continue to fail them. Who is responsible for the governance failures leading to Consultant A being rehired? Who was responsible for auditing his practice and what accountability will there be for the failure in that regard? Will the Government finally publish the human tissue Bill this month, without delay, in order to prevent incidents such as those to which I refer from happening again?

I thank the Deputy for raising this very sensitive matter and for his ongoing interest in it on behalf of the 18 families affected. The matter has been discussed in the House previously. Once again, I express my deep sympathy to the families in Cork who have experienced the tragedy of losing a child and who then had the devastating experience of learning that their children's organs were disposed of without their consent. That was wrong. It is hard to fathom the hurt this incident must have caused to the families affected. It is an extremely distressing situation that should not have occurred and that has only added to their distress and grief.

While it is not appropriate for me to comment on individual cases, I recognise the families affected for sharing their deeply personal stories in order that other families do not have to go through what they experienced. The Department of Health is advised that the HSE, the South/Southwest Hospital Group, Cork University Hospital and Cork University Maternity Hospital have apologised to the families concerned and very much regret the incident. The Minister for Health, his Department and the HSE are committed to ensuring that there is learning across the health service to prevent a recurrence. The HSE advises that the systems analysis review being undertaken by the hospital group has concluded and that the final report is being prepared. We will respond to any recommendations. The HSE advises that the report is being finalised and will be shared with the families in the coming weeks. I am not sure if we have powers of compellability in that regard, but we are assured by the HSE that the report will be shared with the families within the next few weeks. I understand that the delay in the completion of this review has been very upsetting, but it is essential that correct processes are followed in order to ensure the facts of the case can be established and shared with the families affected.

Dignity and respect for parents who have experienced the loss of a child are of paramount importance. In that context, the human tissue Bill is on the priority list of legislation for the Government. Among other matters, the Bill will introduce a regulatory regime for the conduct of post mortems in hospital settings. Given recent events, the general scheme of the Bill has had to be amended to encompass certain aspects of coronial post mortem activities. The draft Bill is being finalised and it is intended that it will be brought to Government for approval at the end of this month.

The delays on the part of the Government and the HSE over the past two years in respect of this matter have caused major hurt and distress to the families involved. What is happening is simply not good enough. I have met some of the families involved and am aware that they believe they are being stonewalled. The Tánaiste says they will get sight of the report in a couple of weeks' time, but similar promises were made in the past. The families were promised that they would get sight of the draft report. That is being reneged upon. If the Tánaiste says that the families will get sight of the final report in a few weeks' time, that needs to happen.

Thirteen years on from the 2009 review, Britain and other countries have put in legislation similar to the proposed human tissue Bill for which we are still waiting. There can be no excuse for that delay. We have had previous commitments in this regard. Only a few months ago in this House, the Taoiseach said that the legislation would be forthcoming in the autumn. The Tánaiste is now saying it will be by the end of the year. That needs to happen, and the promises made today in this Chamber by the Taoiseach need to be followed through on.

The delays with this inquiry and many other inquiries are impossible to defend. I can only imagine the frustration people experience when these inquiries, which you think will last six months, go on for more than six months and last a year or two years. That is very hard to defend. When we challenge the people carrying out the inquiries as to why this is the case, they often say that the matters involved were more complicated than they thought in the first instance and that things came up that they had to look into. That is very difficult to defend from any point of view.

I understand that the draft report will also be the final report. Essentially, they are the same. However, I could be wrong about that. I am told that the report will be shared with the families in the next few weeks. I appreciate that they will not believe that until it happens, particularly in view of their previous experience.

Once again, I am informed that the human tissue Bill will be before the Cabinet by the end of November. It is long overdue. The proposal for this legislation may even go date as far as the Madden commission under the former Minister for Health, Mary Harney. It is that long ago. The legislation is well overdue, and we need to get it done.

On Tuesday and yesterday, I raised with the Taoiseach the issue of the Spiritans and the horrific abuse of children perpetrated at Blackrock College. At that one school alone, we are now learning of the horrific scale of the abuse that was perpetrated. It was revealed yesterday that 25 of the 120 boys in the class of 1979 have reported abuse. That is a staggering 21%. We know that 300 individuals have come forward disclosing abuse perpetrated upon them, and yet just three of the 77 Spiritans with allegations against them have criminal convictions. The scale of this is staggering.

Deputy Ó Ríordáin, others from the Labour Party and I have been in contact with many of the survivors who have come forward. I welcome the Taoiseach's commitment, in response to my question on Tuesday, that we will have a debate on this matter in the House next week. This is welcome. I also welcome the apology from the Spiritans announced yesterday morning, as well as the announcement that the order will establish an independent process to provide a forum for survivors of abuse to come forward. I salute, as we all do, the bravery of those individuals who have already come forward and made public disclosures. Their courage in doing so has enabled others to step forward too.

We believe, however, that we still need to see an independent inquiry take place, not only to uncover the extent of the abuse perpetrated not just by the Spiritans within one school, but, as it now seems, by other orders in other schools that have not yet been the subject of an inquiry and that have not yet, necessarily, come into the public domain. We have seen other schools named today. We also know that such an inquiry must be survivor-led. It must seek to review the extent of the abuse and, crucially, the existence of institutional cover-ups in individual schools and by particular orders. It should also seek to examine the role of the State and, in particular, its failures and what it could and should have done to prevent abuse in schools where the teachers were paid by the State and the schools were receiving significant public funding.

We are all very conscious of the complexity of establishing such an inquiry. It may, for example, need to be done in a modular fashion. Clearly, we need to hear more from survivors. I welcomed the Taoiseach's indication that he would meet with survivors. We must also consider current concerns. I spoke yesterday about current issues and a person against whom serious allegations of abuse have been made and who continues to live on the grounds of Blackrock College. I am not going to name the individual. The matter is with the Garda, as it should be. The reality is that this is not just an historical issue. Not only are perpetrators still living who have evaded any sort of sanctions to date, but there are those currently in leadership roles in particular schools who have been in those posts for so long, many decades in some cases, that it is very difficult to believe they did not have knowledge of the abuse that was being perpetrated there. In advance of next week's debate, therefore, what preliminary thoughts does the Tánaiste and his Government have on how this matter can be investigated by the State?

I thank the Deputy again for raising this important issue. On Monday, I had a chance to listen to the radio documentary. It was very compelling. I pay tribute to the bravery of all those who participated in it. If people do not tell their stories, then it is very hard for us to take actions against people who carry out abuse and prevent it from happening in future. I recognise their bravery in coming forward and participating in that documentary.

This is a matter that the Government is very concerned about. The cruelty and pervasive nature of the allegations is truly shocking. In the first instance, my thoughts are with the survivors who have bravely told us their stories. Parents must be able to send their children to school in the knowledge that they are not only receiving the best education they can but that they are also in a safe environment. This is true for the vast majority of schools in our State. I understand that a restorative justice process has now been put in place by the Spiritans, which is very welcome. A debate on these issues is scheduled for next week.

As the Taoiseach said earlier, the Government is going to give this matter further consideration, particularly regarding the most effective way to have a victim-led inquiry to allow us to unearth what happened at Blackrock College and other Spiritan schools, specifically who knew what and how they acted, if at all. We just do not know yet the best form of inquiry or what form of inquiry should take place. We are very conscious of the length of time that some inquiries take. We wish to ensure this is undertaken in the right way. This is extremely important for the survivors.

I again encourage anyone who has been the victim of sexual abuse, in school or elsewhere, to contact the Garda. The Garda has extensive powers of investigation. It can carry out arrests, interview people and seize documents and devices. This can lead to prosecutions and perpetrators being punished. In many ways, this is much more powerful than many other forms of inquiry.

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. I endorse his comments and his encouragement of anyone who has been the victim of sexual abuse, in school or elsewhere, to report that matter to the Garda. I would also be glad to engage constructively with the Tánaiste and the Government on the structure of an inquiry. Survivors have contacted me to express their view that an inquiry and a process should engage, in particular, in ensuring that safeguards will be put in place to ensure that abuse like this will not happen in the future, cultural changes that will have to be made in different institutions, radical changes in systems of governance and, crucially, supports for survivors and victims. I look forward to a further debate on that.

I stress again that this is not just an historical issue. People are still currently in leadership roles, in particular in Blackrock College, who have had continuous ongoing involvement with that college for 40 years. I am well aware that one individual, currently in a key leadership role, was told of specific abuse allegations in 2002 and has in the past decade been approached by other survivors who have been told by him to go away and not return unless they have proof and a solicitor with them. These are current issues and not just historical ones, and survivors do want to see them addressed by us as legislators and by the State.

It is fair to say there is broad consensus across the House that we do need an inquiry into these matters and that it should be victim-led and survivor-led. As we all know from our own experience of inquiries that have been initiated by the Government or this House, getting the form of the inquiry right is very important, as is getting the terms of reference right. Inquiries can range from non-statutory ones, such as that which led to the Scally report, which I think people would see as a good model, albeit in very different circumstances, to statutory inquiries, which can also be a very good model but that can take a long time. One thing we must bear in mind is that we do not want to do anything that might compromise any Garda inquiries or any prosecutions. It is possible to have an inquiry without doing this, but we need to have regard to the possibility that it might interfere with Garda inquiries, prosecutions or civil cases. We must ensure we do not make any mistakes in this regard.