Laffoy criticises Department on abuse inquiry response

Ms Justice Mary Laffoy has hit out at the level of co-operation from the Department of Education and religious orders in their dealings with the inquiry into child abuse.

In the third interim report of Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, she strongly criticises the Department, saying it "has not adopted a constructive approach to dealing with its role in the inquiry".

She complained that since its inception in 2000, the Commission had been rendered "devoid of any real independent capacity to perform its statutory functions".

The criticism lead Opposition parties to say the Government had "lost all credibility" in dealing with the child-abuse scandal and the Department of Education's role in the inquiry is now "untenable".

Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens were all sharply critical of the Department. The three parties called for responsibility for the Commission to be stripped from the Department of Education and transferred to the "less implicated"  Department of the Taoiseach.

Ms Justice Laffoy, who resigned as head of the Commission last September, also accuses the State of not complying adequately with orders of discovery for documents relating to abuse cases.

"The ability of the Commission to do its work in a fair, efficient and cost-effective manner from the outset has been contingent on the Department...engaging fully with the Committee," her report, which released this morning, says.

The judge says the Commission "is not satisfied" that it has received this co-operation and has had difficulty getting the Department to comply with statutory orders seeking information. She says the Department's defence was that it was unable to comply properly due to the sheer volume of complaints. There are  over 1,700 cases before the Commission.

Ms Justice Laffoy accepts the Department had difficulties in securing information from all 55 residential schools involved and that it had problems with getting records from gardaí. However, she said the Commission's work was at risk unless these problems were addressed.

On March 10th last year, Ms Justice Laffoy issued a direction for the Department to make further and better discovery, but today's report finds that this direction has not yet been properly complied with. She said this fact "reinforces" the Commission's view that the Department was reluctant to hand over all the information it has.

A spokesman for Mr Dempsey told  ireland.comthe minister would be reading the report in detail before making any comment.

Today's 434-page report also says the religious orders could have been more co-operative.

The report states: "The approach of the congregations has been to require strict proof of facts alleged by complainants." However, it says the orders should not take this approach where they know abuse has happened. "If the congregations are aware that abuse has occurred, rather than put the committee on strict proof of the facts, they could admit the facts."

The "vast majority" of complaints were being contested, rather than being admitted by the religious orders, the report states. It adds: "Failure on the part of the congregations to adopt such an approach, where it is open to them, will inevitably result in a process which is more protracted and costly than it should be."

Ms Justice Laffoy said the manner in which the congregations engaged with the committee was a "significant determinant" of the ability of the inquiry to complete its work.

However, she said not all the congregations had been uncooperative. The report says the committee was shown "real co-operation" from the Rosminian Institute, while the Presentation Brothers had "proferred assistance in a constructive manner".

The Inquiry is divided into an Investigative Committee which involves a full inquiry with parties having full legal representation. It also has a Confidential Committee which provides the option  for victims to detail the abuses they suffered without them being fully investigated.

The third interim report had been due for release last November. However, it was delayed because Ms Justice Laffoy resigned in September, saying she was having difficulty getting information from the Department of Justice and, in particular, the Department of Education.

In December, when the resignation took effect, correspondence between the Department and Ms Laffoy was made public. In one letter she complained of a "pervasive sense of powerlessness".

"The commission has never been properly enabled by the Government to fulfil satisfactorily the functions conferred on it by the Oireachtas," she wrote.

Ms Justice Laffoy was replaced by Mr Justice Seán Ryan, who completed work on his recommendations for how the tribunal should progress earlier this month. He suggests that not all 1,712 individual's cases should be heard by the Commission.

The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, ordered a second review of the Commission in September due to spiralling costs and fears it could take over a decade to complete its work. Mr Dempsey conceded  earlier this month the child abuse scandal could cost the State up to €1 billion in compensation for victims and legal fees.

Mr John Kelly, a spokesman for the Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA), described Miss Justice Laffoy's report this morning as a "whitewash" and said his organisation, which represents hundreds of victims in Ireland and Britain, had no confidence in the Commission.