The Residential Institutions Redress Board is an independent body established under the terms of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002. Judge Sean O'Leary, a High Court Judge, is the chairperson of the redress board and nine other members have also been appointed.
On the basis of the most recent information available from the Residential Institutions Redress Board, the board has received 3,809 applications. To date, the board has made offers to 1,324 individual applicants. The average award is approximately €77,000.
The board provides regular updates as to the number of claims received on its website, www.rirb.ie. The redress board has recently finalised its first annual report which covers the period 16 December 2002 to 31 December 2003. The report has been laid before each House of the Oireachtas.
Prior to the establishment of the redress board, my Department had estimated there would be approximately 5,000 applicants to the board. It is too early to determine what the final outcome will be at this stage of the process.