Dáil debates

Wednesday, 15 June 2005

Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Amendment) Bill 2005: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage.

 

5:00 pm

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 15:

In page 14, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following:

"'educational service' means a service provided by a recognised school or centre for education (within the meaning in each case of the Education Act 1998) or by a person or body specified by the Minister who provides a programme of education, training or instruction;".

This amendment inserts a definition of education services into the section that deals with the body that administers educational grants to people who have been abused. It seems we need some definition of the educational services to be covered. There is a level of dissatisfaction with the administration of the education fund. The Minister will probably tell me that is why she is setting this up on a statutory basis, and I support that, but there will be a level of subjectivity in decisions made by the board unless there is a definition. I would like the definition to facilitate the various kinds of educational experiences that people feel are appropriate to themselves. This all goes back to our original debate on the need for criteria. People need to know why they are being refused and that it is not due to some arbitrary decision by people on the board.

What will be a quorum on the board? Can decisions be made by a relatively small number of people? There is a certain need for an assurance that those making the decisions will be entirely objective and that every victim will have an equal chance of getting support under this fund. I am speaking in the context of those who have had such experiences. I appreciate that this is a new body, but people's experience needs to be taken into account. These are the people who are directly involved and who would have come to public representatives and given us their views. They need to know that decisions will be made in a proper fashion on the fund. It is a sizeable amount of public money but it is finite. A definition of what constitutes an educational service would, therefore, be appropriate.

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