Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. He will appreciate that I am not in a position to comment on a specific case, but I will outline the general position on behalf of the Minister who is unavoidably absent.

The Education Finance Board was financed by the specific €12.7 million contribution provided by the religious congregations under the 2002 indemnity agreement. It was dissolved with effect from 29 March 2013. The newly established Residential Institutions Statutory Fund has taken over its remaining functions and will use the less than €30,000 remaining to meet the outstanding commitments of the EFB. Eligibility under the EFB was confined to former residents and their relatives of those institutions that were scheduled under the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002.

The Magdalen laundries did not come within the scope of the redress scheme. However, provision was made to entitle those girls who were sent from a scheduled institution to a laundry and who were abused while resident in it. Therefore, only those Magdalen survivors who were also residents of scheduled institutions under the redress scheme could apply for assistance from the EFB. While the numbers of such women are not known, the McAleese report found that 7.8% of the known routes of entry were referrals from the industrial and reformatory schools.

The Residential Institutions Statutory Fund has been established 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. Supports in areas such as mental health services, health and personal social services, education and housing services will be available from the board. Since its establishment in March, the board has been working on the arrangements to be put in place for the operation of the fund, with a particular focus on developing its understanding of the range of needs of survivors through consultation both in Ireland and the United Kingdom with survivor groups and individual survivors. In addition, the practical arrangements for recruiting staff and establishing an office are being progressed.

The Residential Institutions Statutory Fund has to determine and publish the approved services under section 8 of the Act and the criteria by reference to which it will make decisions on applications. Conscious of the needs of the former residents, many of whom are elderly and infirm, the Minister for Education and Skills is anxious that the fund will be operational as quickly as possible. However, the Deputy will appreciate that the fund must determine its services and criteria at the outset.

Those eligible to apply to the new fund are the estimated 15,000 former residents who have received awards from the Residential Institutions Redress Board or equivalent court awards and settlements. Only those Magdalen survivors who also received awards under the redress scheme or equivalent court awards will be eligible.

On the question of the Magdalen survivors generally, the Government has approved the implementation of a cash lump sum payment scheme as recommended by Mr. Justice Quirke. An interdepartmental group was tasked with giving further detailed consideration to the steps necessary to implement the other recommendations. I understand the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, expects to receive the group's report shortly and will then bring the matter back before the Government for final decision.

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