Vol. 572 No. 3
298 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason persons deceased prior to May 1999 are unable to be the subjects of applications for redress under the Residential Institutions Redress Board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23190/03]
On 11 May 1999 the Taoiseach on behalf of the State apologised to the victims of childhood abuse and announced a range of measures the Government intended to introduce to assist victims.
In 2002 the Oireachtas enacted the Residential Institutions Redress Act to provide a means for making financial awards to assist people who as children were abused while resident in certain institutions in which the State had a regulatory function.
In framing the legislation, the Government was conscious that a significant number of former residents who were eligible to make an application for redress in their own right were in ill-health or elderly and that it was probable that some would pass away before they would get the opportunity to make an application to the Residential Institutions Redress Board.
With this in mind and to avoid a situation where a person's application would fail on death, the Government took the proactive step of including section 9 in the Redress Act. This enables the spouse or children of a person who was entitled to make an application but died since 11 May 1999, the date of the Taoiseach's apology, to make an application.
Essentially, the legislation is applicable from 11 May 1999. Therefore, it is not possible for the spouse or children of a person that died before that date to make an application as the person concerned was not in a position to make an application in their own right.
