Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

The first time I had an opportunity to speak about survivors of clerical sexual abuse was a number of months ago, on the closing date for people to access the redress board. I opposed that for all the reasons outlined in the Dáil tonight. It must be seriously re-examined to see how the date can be extended to accommodate people who, for reasons we do not understand but which they understand, cannot or will not or find it impossible to come forward. Their genuine fear of coming forward should be taken into account. That should be the first port of call in the discussion on the Bill that has been introduced by the Minister.

On first reading through the Bill, I thought it appeared to be quite reasonable. I noted how it provided for four survivors on the board of nine members, which also included the chief executive officer and chairperson, as well as having accountability linked in with it. I also noted the provision for an appeals process and so on. However, on reading through it a second time and examining it in greater detail, I noted how the staff of the Education Finance Board is to move over to the new residential institutions statutory fund and will be paid therefrom. Moreover, their pensions will be paid from the €110 million allocated to that fund. In addition, board members will receive expenses, to which they are entitled, but I note they also will be drawn from the fund, as will the salary and pension of the chief executive officer. Similarly, the appeals officer will be paid from the fund, as will the staff he or she takes on. Finally, any committees that are established will have their expenses and allowances paid for from out of the fund.

I then read through the Bill a third time, to better grasp its impact. The point that has been made forcefully to me by various groups is this fund has the potential to become a bureaucratic quango. Moreover, it does not address the needs of the survivors. As the legislation will allow the board to give money to the Minister for the appeals officer, wages, expenses and so on, what proportion of these costs will be taken out of the €110 million? I believe that 99% of the fund must be given to survivors, which is the purpose of setting up the fund, not to create a position whereby money must be drawn out of the amount allocated to the fund to pay people. This point will be important and the legislation must be amended to effect this change.

However, this can only be done in the context of the necessity to reconsider the Bill in its entirety. The point has been made to me by survivors that their experience of the Education Finance Board was it was extremely difficult for families and individuals to gain access to the fund. They were obliged to go through hoops to gain access to it by filling out application forms, proving identities, etc. For example, one of my constituents is pursuing a VEC course comprising four modules. She started off with two modules and has submitted applications for funding in this regard but has received no response. Moreover, I read in the Bill that it will be closed from November and I am unsure how this will link in with the new board that is being established. In addition, I refer to the experiences recounted by people from organisations such as Survivors of Child Abuse, SOCA, regarding efforts their families had made to gain access to funding from the Education Finance Board. It took nearly 18 months for their families to try to access it and they gave up. They simply stopped as it was not worth their while. They walked away, stating that getting such funding was too difficult. I am particularly fearful in respect of this Bill that people will encounter similar difficulties in respect of the applications and hoops through which they must jump to get access to its provisions pertaining to health, housing, education, etc. and amendments must be made in this regard.

In addition, I note that unlike the Education Finance Board provisions, families are being excluded from access to the new fund. This also is a matter of concern among the survivors of abuse because, as has been observed in this Chamber, many of the aforementioned survivors are extremely elderly. I spoke to one such survivor today, who left Daingean in 1967 and who now is 61 years old and who probably is one of the youngest survivors. The survivors' groups seek a time limit as to when this money will be spent, as it should not be available for ten years. The Education Finance Board had access to €12.7 million and took ten years to distribute that amount. The sum of €100 million is being provided for under this Bill and the question arises as to how to disburse it. A time limit must be imposed to avoid timeframes of 12, 13 or 15 years, by which time those who need it most will not be able to avail properly of it.

I also wish to raise the question of the bureaucracy this legislation will entail. Would it be possible to put in place a system similar to the HAA positive action medical cards provided to hepatitis C sufferers to provide access to health services? People should be considered according to the quantum of money they received from the redress board and an appropriate percentage could be given to them. I note all the names, addresses and contact numbers are available and a card could be used to allocate medical care, health, housing applications or whatever. Credits on such a card could be used by survivors for to access such funds for housing, were they in need of an extension or if they needed to build a flat or toilet downstairs in their houses. I propose a mechanism whereby people receive funds directly and rapidly to be used for their best benefit. Such amendments must be considered, rather than people being obliged to apply, make applications and so on, in what can be extremely difficult and bureaucratic procedures, to gain access to redress from that perspective.

I will conclude by noting many people had thought this issue was behind us and which they would not be obliged to consider again. However, there has been another outbreak on foot of Cardinal Brady not handing over the names or telling the families of the young boys who were being sexually abused by Brendan Smith all those years ago. Memorials are good and I acknowledge a number of people seek the creation of a memorial in recognition of what happened. However, unless the institutions are brought to account and to book in respect of their past and present by recognising what happened and then taking responsibility for it, there still is a long way to go to address these issues.

See this speech in context