Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Section 4 of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 enables additional institutions, in which children were placed and resident, and in respect of which a public body had a regulatory or inspection function, to be added to the Schedule to the Act.

Since enactment of the legislation, my Department has received correspondence from individual and survivor groups identifying a number of additional institutions that may be eligible for inclusion in the Schedule. Accordingly, consultations have taken place between my Department and other Departments which may have provided a regulatory function in the operation of these facilities to ascertain the case for their inclusion under the Act.

While inquiries have not yet been completed in respect of all institutions, I signed an order on 9 November 2004 which provided for the inclusion of 13 additional institutions to the Schedule. Further consultations are taking place in regard to a number of institutions and I will consider the position of these institutions when this process has been completed.

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