Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The response from Caranua represents more of the same in terms of what we have come to expect from it. The survivors provided Caranua with permission to engage with us at the last committee hearing and Caranua acknowledged in that committee that it was familiar with those cases. I am not at all satisfied with the Department's response either. It appears to be hiding behind the same practice as Caranua in claiming to be flexible in the interests of survivors. The Department mentioned the pre-approval process and the requirement for additional paperwork, yet Caranua told us it was its practice to be flexible with regard to the number of quotes received, for example. That was the case with the outstanding cases we dealt with.

The Department's response is cold insofar as the people we are speaking about are survivors of institutional abuse. Redress should not be denied on the basis of paperwork or a lack of paperwork. The Department references that all of the time, as Caranua has done, and it has stated that it is satisfied with the appeals process. There are many survivors that are not satisfied. I hope that if the Department proposes to look into this matter, its investigation will be thorough and it will see fit to address the outstanding cases. To say that it is in respect of those particular cases the survivors believe Caranua let them down is an understatement. They are very real and the Department needs to sort this out. The remainder of the funding rolled back. This matter needs to be addressed.