Redress board pays €11m to victims

State compensation payments to people who suffered physical and sexual abuse in reformatory and industrial schools are averaging…

State compensation payments to people who suffered physical and sexual abuse in reformatory and industrial schools are averaging €84,000 each or just over €11 million in total.

A total of 133 awards and settlements have been made to date by the Residential Institutions Redress Board, which was established by the Government late last year to compensate former residents of Ireland's industrial schools system.

According to the latest figures released by the board, the awards made by the board have ranged from €10,000 to €200,400.

In the seven months to the end of July, the board received a total of 1,662 applications for compensation, with new applications coming in at a rate of 50 a year.

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It has rejected 48 applications, on the basis that the claims relate to institutions not covered under the scheme.

The board was established as an alternative to former residents of industrial schools having to take civil compensation actions to the High Court. More than 1,000 former residents had lodged such claims.

Yesterday Mr Colm O'Gorman of the One in Four group which represents victims of child sexual abuse, said it was too early to say whether the board was a success, but he expressed concerns about aspects of the scheme.

"It's early days and it will take time to evaluate the scheme, but we have been contacted by people who have said they were unhappy with their experiences before the board. It was a lot more adversarial than expected and they found it quite difficult."

The go-ahead for the board followed an agreement between the State and religious orders which ran a number of children's homes, signed in June last year.

The State agreed to establish the redress board and indemnify the orders against any current or future High Court claims from former residents in return for a €130 million contribution.