Le 11 lá anois, tá ceathrar - triúr ban agus fear amháin - i mbun stailc taobh amuigh den Dáil agus éilimh thar a bheith bunúsach acu. Tá siad ag iarraidh rochtain a bheith acu ar phinsean ranníocach agus ar chárta leighis speisialta, an cárta HAA. Ceapann siad nach bhfuil an dara rogha acu ach leanúint ar aghaidh lena stailc ocrais. Is mór an náire é go bhfuil orthu é sin a dhéanamh agus muidne inár suí anseo gan tada a dhéanamh.

For 11 days now, four people have felt they have no choice but to go on hunger strike. They are drinking but they are not eating. I am extremely worried about those three women and one man who feel they have no choice but to go on hunger strike to have the most basic requests met. They are asking for a HAA medical card and access to a contributory pension. Nobody from the Minister's Government met them until Monday. They are standing there and I am ashamed, as I would say most of my colleagues are, that those four people feel they have no choice but do to this to achieve something as basic as that.

There has been a mean-spirited approach from this Government and previous Governments in relation to redress for people who have been in institutions. We saw this in the mother and baby home redress scheme, where babies under six months, those who were boarded out and those who suffered because of their mixed-race background were excluded. These four people have been in institutions and suffered intergenerational trauma. They have also worked in those institutions. What they are asking for is very reasonable.

On every occasion, each government has been held to account but there have been no consequences. To go back, the special advocate for survivors, Patricia Carey, has said that the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act is not fit for purpose. The Justice for Magdalenes group has said "the denial to institutional abuse survivors of the HAA medical card is an intolerable injustice". To go back further, Mr. Justice John Quirke's primary recommendation for the Magdalen survivors back in 2013 was exactly that, but this was ignored. Coming forward to the mother and baby home report and the various processes that were set up following that, the OAK consultation said clearly that a HAA card should be provided. The Department of Education and Youth's consultation with residential survivors under Barbara Walshe and Catherine O'Connell said that this is the most basic request and should be satisfied.

I ask the Minister to take action, to meet those four brave and courageous people who feel they have no choice, to look at this and to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist a chuir sí orm. Is ceist an-tábhachtach í. Bhí imní orm nuair a chonaic mé na daoine taobh amuigh den Dáil cúpla lá ó shin agus iad ar stailc ocrais. Beidh mé ag caint leis an Aire oideachais faoin gceist sin.

I am also very concerned about what I have seen recently. This issue was raised with me last week by Deputy Michael Cahill. It is a matter of extreme concern that there are individuals who are making such dangerous efforts to make their point. It is a point they are making admirably but I urge them not to make it through hunger strike. Like the rest of us, the Deputy will be aware of the dangers such a strike poses to health. I ask those involved to try to engage.

The Deputy made the point that there has not been engagement. However, I understand that officials from the Department of Education and Youth recently met directly with the group to listen to their concerns. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, also spoke to members of the group who were present during the passage of the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025 in July.

One of the points the Deputy made is that she wants the survivors to be provided with the HAA card they are demanding. I will point out that the supports for survivors Act enables the HSE to provide a package of ongoing health supports and services to survivors. This entitlement will be for life and will not be subject to means tests or periodic reviews. However, I acknowledge that some survivors have sought the provision of what they refer to as a "HAA card". It is important to note that the HAA card provided under the Health (Amendment) Act 1996 was introduced specifically to meet the very significant health needs of a particular group of individuals who contracted a serious and life-threatening condition. I believe it was individuals who had contracted hepatitis C as a result of the negligence of the State. The package of health supports to be provided under the supports for survivors Act is the same as that previously provided to survivors and former residents of the Magdalen laundry and mother and baby home institutions. The Act therefore provides that survivors of industrial schools and reformatories will be treated consistently in this regard.

I am also aware that another of the concerns of the survivors is that they want a pension top-up payment. Again, it is acknowledged that there have been calls for the State to provide this pension payment to survivors and that payments of this type are made to survivors of the Magdalen laundries. However, it should be noted that those payments reflect the very particular circumstances involved, where the women in the Magdalen laundries were engaged in commercial work as adults, in some cases for many years, without appropriate contributions.

I appreciate the Minister's concern but four people have had to take this action. I have asked them to stop. It is very difficult to watch four people on hunger strike. The Minister talked about consistency. All of the governments have been consistent in their mean-spirited approach to this. They have been saving pennies while spending other money foolishly, as was outlined earlier on. The requests are basic. These people want access to a contributory pension and to a special medical card, the HAA card. I know the background to that card and the specific Act it related to. I also know why it was brought in. I will go back to Mr. Justice Quirke, who specifically asked for a HAA medical card for Magdalen survivors. I have mentioned all of the other processes that were set up, the special advocate, Patricia Carey, the Justice for Magdalenes group and the Department's own report back in 2019. We cannot continue with this mean-spirited approach. There is a finite number of people involved. It is time we made our apologies mean something. We have had 26 years of apologies and different redress schemes, all of which have been unjust, exclusionary and unfair. Let us finally learn.

I will speak to the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in respect of the matters the Deputy has raised. It is unfair to say that the State does not face up to its financial responsibilities arising from terrible events that happened in the past. It clearly has done. I identified the Magdalen laundries scheme and other redress schemes that have been introduced. People have been provided for. I am conscious that the specific ask here relates to the pension and the HAA card. There are obviously consequences to decisions such as this. It will have an impact on other areas. I suspect the Deputy would join me in urging the individuals who are on hunger strike to come off it and to recognise that they can have engagement with the Government without the necessity of exposing their health to such danger. It is a very damaging experience for them. I urge them to end their strike. I will speak to the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in respect of the matter.