Committee
Public Petitions Committee, 25 May 2005
25 May 2005 · S2 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
Current Petitions
Institutional Child Abuse (PE535)
Okay. Although I could not look at the whole letter, I know that Chris Daly is not content with it. Chris Daly, David Whelan and many others are having difficulty in getting access to the records to which they were promised access. They have been told on numerous occasions that there were fires or that records were lost in transit, but that has not been proven; they have seen no record of a fire.Is it possible for Kevin Dunion, the Scottish information commissioner, to meet Chris Daly, David Whelan and others around a table so that he can reassure them on the issue? Chris Daly, David Whelan and others feel as if they are banging their heads off a brick wall. They are happy about how far things have gone and about how much they have achieved, but they are struggling. INCAS has very few resources. They have made a monster; they are a victim of their own success. A discussion between Kevin Dunion, Chris Daly, David Whelan and others would help to get some answers to the question of what is happening about the files. We do not want to have what in Australia is called "shredgate", with files going missing willy-nilly. In that meeting, Kevin Dunion could allay concerns and explain where the files have gone. If there was a fire, surely a fire alarm would have gone off. If Chris Daly and others could be shown a record of that, it would help them to deal with the loss.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Our first current petition, PE535, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to inquire into past institutional child abuse, in particu...
Helen Eadie:
Lab
The e-mail that we received this morning from John Deighan gives a full response, in which he says explicitly what Cardinal O'Brien did. On the basis of that...
Rosie Kane:
SSP
Chris Daly called me this morning before I came to the meeting to say that he had received by post to his home a letter from John Deighan. He told me that he...
The Convener:
Lab
What we have is a copy of the contents of the letter—John Deighan has advised us of what he put into his letter to Chris Daly.
Rosie Kane:
SSP
It is an extract.
The Convener:
Lab
I think that Jim Johnston, our clerk, will be able to help us.
Jim Johnston:
Sorry, Rosie. I spoke to John Deighan this morning. He said that the e-mail that he circulated, which has been tabled for members, is a copy of what he sent ...
Rosie Kane:
SSP
Okay. Although I could not look at the whole letter, I know that Chris Daly is not content with it. Chris Daly, David Whelan and many others are having diffi...
The Convener:
Lab
The first thing that strikes me about what Rosie Kane is asking for is that an independent commissioner would not take kindly to an instruction from us for h...
Ms White:
SNP
I have the e-mail in front of me, and if you read just the one sentence it looks like an apology, but if you read it in the context of the whole letter it is...
John Scott:
Con
I support your view, convener. There are two definite issues that need to be addressed. We are beginning to lose sight of the real issue in worrying about wh...
Campbell Martin:
Ind
I have not spoken to Chris Daly, but I think that what is bothering him is the context in which the cardinal's apology was given, as it was given as part of ...
The Convener:
Lab
I appreciate the point that you are making. I spoke to John Deighan about that point myself, because I was interested in the interpretation given in the lett...
Campbell Martin:
Ind
I think that it is in our notes that INCAS asked for a meeting with the Catholic Church or John Deighan and got no response. If they had a meeting, perhaps t...
The Convener:
Lab
I do not disagree, but are we on this committee capable of saying whether they should or should not have a meeting? We have no authority over the church to o...
Helen Eadie:
Lab
I agree. The last time that we discussed an apology from the church our concern was that it was not made by the most senior cleric in Scotland at the time. H...
Rosie Kane:
SSP
To be clear, convener, it is not only the Catholic Church that has not come through, it is Quarriers and others. We have focused on the Catholic Church, but ...
John Scott:
Con
When the debate took place in November the files were not available, and they were not subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, which came ...
Rosie Kane:
SSP
I said in that debate that it would be good if Peter Peacock or the Parliament were able to say that from this day on it would be illegal to get rid of files...
The Convener:
Lab
I agree entirely. We have to start asking questions about that, to get those final pieces to come together and to get some satisfaction for those who need th...