Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 June 2014
184. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a second redress scheme will be introduced for those survivors of institutional abuse who, for various reasons, did not avail of the Residential Institutions Redress Board. [26815/14]
View answerThe Residential Institutions Redress Board was established in December 2002 under the Residential Institutions Redress Act, 2002 to make fair and reasonable financial awards to victims of institutional childhood abuse. Applicants had a period of up to 3 years in which to submit an application to the Redress Board, that is until 15th December 2005 during which time the Board undertook an extensive advertising campaign. However, section 8 of the Act allowed the Board to extend the period for receipt of an application where it considered that there were exceptional circumstances.
The Residential Institutions Redress Amendment Act, 2011 removed the Board's power to accept late applications received on or after the 17th September 2011. The Board received 2,766 late applications of which it has allowed 2,191, bringing the total number of applications received to 16,623. Having finalised 16,480 applications by end May 2014, the Board had 143 applications and 1 late submission to consider. When introducing the 2011 Amendment Act, the Government was satisfied that sufficient time had been given to potential applicants to apply to the Redress Board. I have no plans to introduce a second redress scheme.
