Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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537. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will clarify the persons that reviewed cases on foot of a recommendation from a report (details supplied). [29628/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I can confirm that Senior Counsel, Mary O’Toole was engaged to undertake a review of 216 cases under the Magdalen ex-Gratia Scheme, where the length of time spent in the institution was deemed less than that claimed by the applicant, as recommended by the Ombudsman in his 2017 Report. Ms O’Toole carried out the review with the assistance of one Junior Counsel and 3 Department officials.

In addition to the above mentioned persons, the then Department of Justice and Equality secured sanction for an additional 4 Counsel to expedite the review, in the time period from October 2019 to March 2020. Responsibility for the Magdalen ex-Gratia Scheme transferred to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in October 2020 following the Transfer of Functions.

The review process is now complete and a final report is to be submitted by Senior Counsel shortly.