The report into abuse in religious-run schools is horrific. Hundreds of predators subjected thousands of children to relentless sexual abuse. Survivors described being molested, stripped naked, raped and drugged in an atmosphere of terror and silence. The abuse happened in classrooms, offices and sports facilities. Some were sexually abused in their own homes by predators who had gained their family's trust. Nowhere and no one was safe. The scale of abuse is such that gardaí are now investigating if it was organised and co-ordinated by paedophile rings. What we are dealing with is a scandal of unprecedented and unparalleled proportions. These predators acted with impunity, were protected by religious orders and destroyed the lives of countless innocent children.

The immense bravery of those who have come forward to tell their stories is inspiring. I acknowledge the two brothers whose courage in speaking to RTÉ about their abuse in Blackrock College opened the floodgates - Mark and David Ryan. Sadly, Mark died before this report was published, but his legacy is one of enormous service to this country.

Mark, David and all of the other survivors have shown incredible bravery and courage. Can the Taoiseach explain why the State has not? The reaction of the State to this and every other abuse scandal involving religious orders is one of cowardice. The Taoiseach and fellow Ministers have implored religious orders to think about their Christian values and their moral obligations to contribute to redress. Can we please stop talking about Christian values and moral obligations when we are discussing children being raped and investigations into paedophile rings in schools? Where is the legal obligation? Where are the criminal convictions? Why are these orders not being raided by gardaí, why are their assets not being seized and why on earth are they still running our schools? It is unbelievable that the approach of successive governments to these orders, which operated as criminal networks, is to roll over. We could be here today discussing legislation that would help us to hold these orders to account but we are not. We have had report after report about horrific child abuse carried out by members of religious orders - abuse that was deliberately facilitated and concealed by those orders. What will it take for the State to finally act and go after these orders with more than a pathetic appeal to their moral values?

I thank the Deputy for raising this extraordinarily important issue. Lives have been destroyed. A national trauma has been unleashed and I join with her in paying tribute to Mark - I am thinking of him and his memory today - his brother David and, indeed, all the survivors and victims who came forward.

They have done the State an extraordinary service.

Let me be crystal clear just in case there is any misinterpretation in any manner or means about what the Deputy may or may not have heard me or any member of the Government say in recent weeks. I was making the point that those who preach certain things should practise in that way. The Deputy left out the next sentence but the next sentence is very important. The Government takes nothing off the table in terms of what can and should be done regarding this situation. I thank and commend the Minister for Education on her work on this and the sensitive way she has handled this issue and worked with survivors. I pay tribute to her for that. The scoping inquiry is very clear about the responsibility and obligation on religious orders to quite frankly cough up here in terms of redress, and we should not repeat the mistakes of the past regarding this. I do not wish to speak about these matters in crude terms but anyone who thinks anyone is going to get off the hook here regarding their responsibility and obligation, moral or otherwise, is wrong. That is a misplaced view.

What we want to do is get the next steps right. The most important thing we have to do as a Government right now is make sure we put the correct mechanism in place in terms of the commission of investigation because I have heard what the survivors have said very clearly. They do not want to wait years and years again. This has destroyed their lives. As the Deputy rightly said, it has put their lives on hold. They want a process that is going to deliver for them. Sometimes we have done this well in this country and sometimes we have done it appallingly badly. We need to get that right. Redress will have to be a part of that but it is only a part of that because truth, justice and accountability constitute a major part as well.

The Deputy asked questions about why An Garda Síochána did not do this or that. I, and we in this House, do not direct An Garda Síochána but what we do know is that the Garda has been extraordinarily clear in terms of asking people to come forward and make complaints and statements. I understand that this has already happened in many cases and, therefore, this is a live Garda investigation into these matters as well.

The scale of this is shocking. The Deputy rightly said that religious orders knew; so did a lot of people in society. Religious orders knew but it seems to me that a hell of a lot of people must have known about this. The scale of this is so large that the idea that this was not known widely in society is not a credible proposition for anyone to put forward. Let me be clear to the Ceann Comhairle and the people of Ireland that we will act on this. We will have a full commission of investigation. We have decided that as a Government. We will do it in consultation in designing it in a way that works for survivors led by the Minister for Education. We will get this right. We will work across this House to get this right. We do not rule out legislation, legal change or any action that may be taken to make sure that, once and for all, people step up to their responsibilities that they have been evading and running from for decades.

The Taoiseach said this Government takes nothing off the table and anyone who thinks they will get off the hook is wrong but for his information, this has literally just happened with regard to the redress scheme for mother and baby homes. The Minister went over cap in hand to the Church to try to get a contribution and did not get one. Is the Taoiseach aware of a legal strategy that is being used by the Christian Brothers when survivors take a case against them? They are using a technicality to force survivors who want to sue them to name every member of the order from the time they were abused. This can mean having to find the names of up to 120 people. Oftentimes they have to go to the High Court to try to extract this information from the Christian Brothers and that is just to start the case. Can the Taoiseach imagine how much it costs survivors to take them on? Can he imagine how difficult it is? Can he imagine the trauma that is causing? Why is that legal? In Australia, when religious orders began using despicable defences in court to evade responsibility for child abuse, the parliament changed the law. Why is the Taoiseach not looking at laws like this, which will deliver justice? Has he tried anything other than just appealing to the religious orders to use what he calls their "Christian values"?

Has the Deputy done that? This is not just a debating chamber. She is a legislator. Anybody can bring forward legislation in this House so if she has ideas about how she thinks the law should be changed, she should bring them forward and we will engage with her.

We will.

Thank you very much because we are not just here to commentate on this most shocking national tragedy and trauma. We are here to come forward with ideas. I do not intend to play politics with this or throw the Deputy's words back at her in the way she tends to misrepresent mine. I was calling on people who call themselves Christian to act in accordance with their values. I also said that we will use every lever at our disposal to make sure these people get truth, accountability and justice and nothing is off the table. I do not think I can be any clearer to survivors. The only thing is that I am reassured that survivors understand what I am saying even if the Deputy is choosing not to.

We are going to get this right. We are going to once and for all, as a state, prove that we can help to heal and not just brush things under the carpet. How many reports have we had in this country that show us this horrific trauma? Every now and again, everybody gets offended and upset and says things will change, but they have not. We still have not, as a country, dealt with the scale of the abuse that happened and the mistrust. People who had authority and responsibility, and who were trusted with our children, failed to live up to that.

We will get this right. We will work with the Deputy. Any legislative proposals from her are welcome and we will hear them. The Minister, Deputy Foley, is going about this the right way by engaging with survivors in terms of the next steps. Nobody will get off the hook. The mother and baby process is still ongoing.