Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 February 2015
242. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of survivors who have accessed Caranua to date in 2015; the length of time their funding will remain; the length of time Caranua will remain in place as an organisation; the outcome for Caranua when the fund has been exhausted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5212/15]
View answerCaranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board, is an independent statutory body established pursuant to the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 to oversee the use of the cash contributions of up to €110 million, pledged by the religious congregations, to support the needs of survivors of institutional child abuse. To date a total of €81.44 million, including €80.06m in contributions and €1.382m in associated interest has been lodged to the special Investment Account managed by the National Treasury Management Agency for the Fund.
I understand that by 31st December 2014, Caranua had made payments of some €9m to 1,062 applicants of the total number of 3,829 applications received. The 2012 Act does not include provisions for the winding-up of the body. While it is envisaged that it will be dissolved when the moneys at its disposal are expended, the precise timing cannot be predicted and accordingly it was deemed preferable to introduce amending primary legislation to dissolve the body in due course and not anticipate in advance how long it will have to do its work.
