A meeting with a child abuse support group in 1999 was the "catalyst" for the Taoiseach's apology to those harmed while in the care of religious and State institutions, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said today.
Mr Martin, who was education minister at the time, said he resolved to advise the Cabinet that the Taoiseach should issue the apology after survivors continually asked if he believed their claims.
Under questioning at the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse this morning, Mr Martin said he had already formed the view that there had been a significant level of abuse and that the response was inadequate.
People coming to his constituency clinics, and the media, particularly RTÉ television programmes, Dear Daughterand States of Fear,had strengthened his belief, he added.
His view was also informed by the growing number of Freedom of Information requests and indications of litigation against the State in relation to abuse allegations.
Department files indicated institutional neglect - and one department file referred to "Dickensian conditions" - but there was no indication that children were being abused, Mr Martin added.
At the 1999 meeting, Mr Martin said the abuse victims, repeatedly said, "'tell us you believe us' ... and that left a deep impression".
"The catalyst for the apology - or a lot of it - hangs on that meeting," Mr Martin said.
Counsel for the Commission, Mr Frank Clarke SC, said the questioning of ministers and Department officials will continue this week will focus on six key areas:
· The reasons for the Taoiseach's apology
· Why the redress fund to compensate victims was created
· The time at which the allegations of abuse emerged
· Methods or protocols within religious or State institutions, including government departments, that may have stymied full investigation of allegations
· The circumstances under which it was established that abuse had taken place and to the extent of the abuse
Mr Martin, who was minister for education between June 1997 and January 2000, outlined the process by which the Cabinet decided to issue the apology and later agree to compensate victims.
The Cabinet had discussed the matter and agreed it was an emerging problem throughout 1998. An interdepartmental working group was established at the end of the year on the advice a Cabinet subcommittee, he said.
It reported back in 1999 and recommended that a national counselling service be created to assist the victims.
"We were bereft really of a counseling service that had the capacity or the means to respond at the time," Mr Martin said.
The working group also advised "in a general sense" a Commission to inquire into the allegations be set up.
The minister for education between 2000 and 2002, Dr Michael Woods, will be questioned tomorrow. The focus will be on the creation of the redress board and the deal between the State and the Church over the latter's financial contribution to the compensation fund.
The Taoiseach will appear next month.