Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for his reply. I think it was in July that we discussed that legislation, which was taken through the House by the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon. What the Minister says is correct; the process has been ongoing for a number of years. When we were discussing that legislation on Second Stage and Committee Stage, I asked whether provision could be made, with the establishment of the statutory fund, that where in exceptional circumstances a late application was received which met the criteria, provision could be made for it to be processed. I envisaged this as a safety valve, a mechanism that would not need to be activated as all applicants who met the criteria would, I hoped, have submitted their applications by 16 June last. In the meantime, in August and September, I received correspondence and telephone calls from a number of people who have been involved with survivors of the residential schools - people who had unfortunately been abused - and they told me that the trend in the past, when there were deadlines for submitting applications, had been that late applications were typically from people who were the most vulnerable survivors of the industrial school system. That is why I am worried there may still be a small cohort of people who are very vulnerable and who, unfortunately, will not have submitted their applications on time. I ask that some mechanism be established in the forthcoming legislation to ensure such applications, if they are submitted, can be processed.

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