The man sat bolt upright in the public gallery, his attention riveted on John Gormley below in the Dail chamber as the minister read his speech on the Ryan Report.John wanted to put on the Dail record a letter from survivor Christopher Heaphy, who spent seven-and-a-half years in Greenmount industrial school in Cork, where he was violently abused.
"We were the lifeblood of this country, precious, and we were totally neglected. We were thrown to wolves to be savaged, abused and treated like animals. When we cried, no one could hear us because we were locked up behind great walls and doors, our tears eventually stopped and we became like them, animals in thought and act."
Above in the gallery, Christopher cried. When John finished speaking, Christopher mouthed "thank you" through the glass. Now his words are on the Dail record, a brave testimony to dark and shameful deeds. No one can silence him any more.
The second day of the debate - or more accurately a half-day, as proceedings were wrapped by 1.30pm - yielded some good contributions, and some less impressive.
Labour deputy Pat Rabbitte was eloquent in his anger over the indemnity deal, and lashed it as "a lousy deal, morally, legally, politically".
He stated: "It is this excessive deference and submissiveness to the Catholic Church that allowed the culture of abuse in the residential institutions to fester for decades. Perhaps, for the first time in our history, public opinion wants an end to the deference and a separation of Church and State".
Dr Michael Woods, who, as education minister, had negotiated the controversial 2002 indemnity deal with the religious orders, spent much of his allocated 30 minutes of debate time defending it.
But he ended up getting into a fractious squabble with Labour deputies over his account of events and decided that this was the perfectly appropriate occasion to score a political point.
"The deputies are caught out now, they are on the bounce, they have their press release out, trying to tie Fianna Fail in with the Church. I know that is what they are at; that is the preset agenda that they have," he blustered. Michael Woods had marshalled his defence with detailed dates and information. All that was missing was a scintilla of humility.
And Labour's Roisin Shortall was in battling form, in a powerful speech, lambasting the congregations.
"Worst of all, the congregations are still more concerned with saving their own faces than in honest atonement. As recently as two weeks ago, some of those orders were still apologising "if" they caused hurt; in spite of all the money they spend on public relations and all of the spin in which they are engaged they are still talking about apologising "if" they caused hurt," she seethed.
Health Minister Mary Harney also took a swipe at the Church.
'If we could apply in some quarters the level of concern and care that we do apply rightly so to the unborn, to the born, I think we would serve this country an awful lot better," she remarked. Departing from her speech at the end, she revealed her own bewilderment at how this abuse raged unchecked in the midst of Irish society.
"As a former pupil of the Convent of Mercy in Goldenbridge I was treated extremely well and had a very good experience there, but I went home to my parents every evening, and the fact is that many of the teachers that taught me were the same people that inflicted such awful pain and suffering on those that were in their care."
Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe closed the debate with a lacklustre speech. The Taoiseach was there for it, but there were far too many empty seats in the chamber.
It would have been fitting if the Dail had been full when Fine Gael's Catherine Byrne requested a minute's silence during the debate.
The 166 deputies - one for every thousand of the 165,000 victims of this State-run reign of terror - could have sat in silence and remembered that they were elected to speak for the people.
Especially for those among our citizens who can't speak for themselves.
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