Vol. 512 No. 3
302 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will make a statement on a report (details supplied) to the effect that the Christian Brothers and the Oblate Order have been denied access to departmental records on industrial schools although television journalists and plaintiffs have been given access to the same records; and the discrimination, if any, in the case between plaintiffs and defendants. [25933/99]
My Department holds general records on some 42,000 children referred by the courts to the old industrial and reformatory schools as well as over 1,000 files relating to all aspects of the industrial schools. It is estimated that the relevant files contain between approximately 300,000 to 400,000 individual documents.
In considering how access is to be granted to the records and to whom, I have to be mindful of the various, and sometimes competing, demands for such access and to key priorities. These priorities include the commission to inquire into child abuse, the statutory obligations imposed upon my Department by the Freedom of Information Act, the considerable volume of litigation arising from past abuse and the related obligations of my Department under the discovery process and Garda investigations into abuse allegations.
In addition to these priority areas I am considering whether, and if so how, access can be given to other bodies or individuals who have an interest in the records. In the meantime, I assure the Deputy that all parties to legal cases where access to documents held by my Department is sought through the discovery process are, and will continue to be, treated equally.
