Róisín Shortall
Question:464 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will meet with a group (details supplied) in order to discuss urgent concerns in respect of the compensation tribunal for victims of abuse. [22848/00]
Written Answers. - Victims of Abuse.
Róisín Shortall
Question:465 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will state the reason past pupils of national and secondary schools who suffered abuse are excluded from the compensation tribunal for abuse victims; the numbers of people who will be affected by this exclusion; the number of persons whose evidence led to prosecutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22849/00]
Róisín Shortall
Question:466 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will report on the number of teachers in primary and secondary schools who have been convicted of sex offences; and the number of victims who gave evidence in these cases. [22850/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 464 to 466, inclusive, together.
I will be pleased to meet the group concerned at a mutually convenient time.
As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has agreed in principle to the setting up of a body which will provide compensation for victims of abuse in childhood. This decision was taken as part of ongoing initiatives which arose from the horrifying accounts in recent years of abuse of children in reformatory and industrial schools and other residential institutions. The decision relates to people who, as children, were in the residential care of institutions in respect of which the State had significant, and in most cases statutory, regulatory and supervisory functions. In such cases the children concerned were separated from their parents and therefore did not have any opportunity to enjoy the care and protection which children in the care of their parents enjoy. For that reason they relied to a significant extent on public bodies to protect them. The decision to establish a compensation body therefore was to find ways in which people, who as children were abused in State care, can now be compensated. It is wrong to characterise the decision as one to exclude a particular category of abuse victims. It is in fact an initiative whereby the State seeks to compensate people for whom it had a special responsibility and who, notwithstanding that, were abused.
In the case of children in primary and post-primary schools, the State did not exercise the kind of regulatory and supervisory functions which applied to children in residential care and indeed, in general, the schools operated with considerable independence from the State. In those circumstances the Government considers that the payment of compensation from public funds for acts of people over whom the State had no control and in schools in respect of which State bodies had very limited functions would not be appropriate. However, the Government is concerned to ensure that victims of such abuse have available to them other remedies for legal redress. To that end, the Statute of Limitations has been amended to allow people who were sexually abused, and especially those who assisted in criminal investigations, to sue their abusers and-or the employers for damage caused to them. In addition, in the case of physical abuse, the Government has asked the Law Reform Commission – LRC – to consider the issue and make recommendations. The LRC has now issued a discussion paper as part of a wider consultation process on this issue.
I have been informed by my officials that they are aware of 11 former or retired primary school teachers who have been convicted of offences relating to sexual abuse of children and of five retired or former post-primary school teachers. Apart from this, information of the kind requested by the Deputy is not available in my Department.