Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the introduction of this Bill, the importance of which has been outlined in detail by the Minister. The Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Bill 2012, provides for the establishment of a statutory fund to support the survivors of residential institutional child abuse, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board. As the Minister said, this initiative follows on from the unanimous motion of this House approximately two years ago, following publication of the Ryan report.

It is proposed that the board will oversee applications for assistance and make arrangements for the provision of approved services or grants to former residents. The fund will be entirely financed by contributions from the religious congregations. Eligibility for assistance from the fund is confined to those who received an award from the Residential Institutions Redress Board or who received an equivalent court settlement. As outlined by the Minister, the Bill also provides for the dissolution of the Education Finance Board and the transfer of its functions to the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board.

However, I have some difficulties with some provisions of the Bill as currently proposed and to which I will refer in detail on Committee Stage, notwithstanding my overall welcome for it. This legislation is a further and necessary element in a number of State response initiatives to the very serious issues of abuse in residential institutions. It provides for the establishment of a fund to support the victims of abuse in residential institutions. As has been indicated for some time, the fund is to be financed by contributions agreed with the religious congregations. Supporting the education, health and welfare needs of the survivors of residential child abuse is the remit of the fund and it will provide very important services.

In May 1999, the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, on behalf of the State, stated that the Government wished to make a sincere and long-overdue apology to the victims of child abuse. He stated at that time that too many children had been denied the love, care and security to which they were entitled. He also said that abuse had ruined their childhood and had been an ever-present part of their adult lives. He emphasised that the Government believed they had been gravely wronged and that the State must do all it could to overcome the lasting effects of their ordeals. During a debate in the House last July, in which we discussed the legislation regarding the Residential Institutions Redress Board, the view was expressed that those statements by the Taoiseach on the part of the Irish State, were long overdue.

Significant work was carried out by the Residential Redress Board. The provision in the original Act to enable the board to accept late applications was clearly a good and prudent one. Years after the original deadline, a substantial number of applications were submitted and approved.

The Bill setting up that board was published by the then Department of Education and Science in June 2001, two years after the then Taoiseach apologised to victims of physical and sexual abuse in reformatories and industrial schools for which the State had responsibility. Its purpose was to provide fair and reasonable financial awards to victims of institutional child abuse. That apology on May 9 1999 followed the broadcast of a television series dealing with these important and very distressing issues. So many innocent people were admitted to dark and grey institutions and many suffered for years. The compulsory admission of so many people to those institutions was absolutely shocking.

At that time, a constituent of mine, whom I have known for more than 20 years, a man who has become a friend of mine, spoke to me and outlined his experiences as a former resident of an institution in our capital city. He recalled the horrors to which he was also subjected when he was employed by private employers at Easter, Christmas and during the summertime. Not alone was that young man abused in the institution, but sadly abuse was also perpetrated in the private sector and in the community by heartless and terrible employers.

In the meantime the Ryan and Murphy reports also revealed the horror of child abuse. Last year in this House, when we discussed the Residential Institutions Redress (Amendment) Bill 2011, I expressed my concern about the cut-off date of 16 September 2011. During debates on Second, Committee and Report Stages, I requested the Minister and Minister of State to provide some mechanism within the legislation that would enable the acceptance of a genuine application post-16 September 2011.

On this side of the House we urged the Minister and his Department to ensure that the decision to have a close-off date should be publicised as much as possible. We urged that the various voluntary organisations and sporting organisations, particularly those working in the Irish Community abroad, should be encouraged to do their level best to ensure that people would know of that particular close-off date. We requested the best possible and appropriate information campaign. I spoke to some of the advocacy groups working abroad and they are still concerned that some potential applicants will not have an opportunity to apply for the assistance that was available under the redress board.

None of us in this House would like to see any individual deprived of his or her rights. During the discussion on the Residential Institutions Redress (Amendment) Bill 2011, I asked if it would be possible for the Government to incorporate in the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Bill the residual functions of the redress board. That would enable the work of the redress board to be activated again should applications that meet the criteria applied by the redress board arise. A small number of eminent people could constitute that board and eliminate unnecessary costs, while dealing with genuine applications.

To my knowledge, when statutory agencies previously ceased to exist, residual functions were transferred back to the parent Government Department and, when necessary, the legislation could be invoked to deal with issues arising. When so much good work has been done under the auspices of the redress board, it would be unfortunate and regrettable if any individual, or a small number of people, were deprived of their right to avail of the support that was there under the redress scheme. Such a measure as I have mentioned could be incorporated in this particular legislation. Hopefully, it would not need to be activated at any time but it would be a safeguard to ensure that nobody, through illness or some other situation, who is not in a position to be advised or to know of the existence of the scheme, would be left out. It would be a source of disappointment to all of us if in a number of months time or later, some people became aware of the scheme, would meet with the relevant criteria, but were not able to avail of those supports.

As each year passes there is, by definition, a smaller and smaller cohort of potential applicants. This is a cause of concern to some of the advocacy groups in Britain, in particular, and further afield. I am familiar with one particular advocacy group in London with which I have met to discuss this matter.

On Committee Stage I would like to have this proposal revisited. Perhaps at the conclusion of this debate the Minister might be able to update us on the best advices available to his Department in relation to potential applicants having missed last September's deadline.

I wish to put on the record of the House a communication I received from an advocacy group that does its work in a diligent, thorough and committed manner. I quote from the document, as follows:

Eligibility to receive assistance from the fund is being confined to those who received an award from the redress board or those who received awards pursuant to court actions, and who would otherwise have received awards from the board. However, this definition will exclude many of these who have suffered most from institutional abuse. Just over 1,000 individuals presented evidence to the CICA - less than 1% of the estimated number of children to have been admitted to residential institutions between 1936 and 1970. There is strong evidence of high levels of institutional abuse among people who are homeless, in places of detention and in mental health services, and who were therefore not in a position to make claims. Therefore people who have not come to terms with their abuse, have not heard of the redress initiative and/or are so damaged that they did not have the financial or psychological resources to attend, will be unable to receive assistance from the fund. In other words, some of those who have suffered most and are most in need of help will be unable to benefit from a scheme designed to help survivors, because of Government legislation. The State will have failed them not once, but twice.

The advocacy group went on to suggest some amendments that I can submit to the House for consideration on Committee Stage. What has been clearly emphasised to me through these representative groups is that we need to amend the definition to ensure that the most marginalised survivors of institutional abuse will not be left behind in some instances.

I welcome the Government's commitment to put the Children First guidelines on a statutory basis. All State agencies must work together with clarity in following and implementing the guidelines. There must be consistency and uniformity across the State and the guidelines must be implemented throughout the country in the best interests of all children.

In April 2010, the then Government announced proposals to use €110 million of the offers of contributions to be made by the religious congregations to establish this fund. A wide-ranging consultation process was undertaken with survivor groups and congregations with views on the scope of the fund widely sought. Understandably, a diverse range of proposals were put forward by the different groups. In recent months, together with other Members of the Oireachtas, I have received numerous representations and proposals from different groups and many individuals in regard to the disbursement of this funding, the type of service to be provided and the mechanism for providing such necessary services.

Through parliamentary questions in this House on a number of occasions I requested the Minister to ensure that the various proposals and submissions made by different group be given the detailed consideration and analysis to ensure that the best possible proposals are adopted and put to use in the best interests of those who are entitled to such support and assistance.

We need to ensure that the maximum level of funding is put into the delivery of services to these individuals and that whatever costs are incurred in rolling out the programmes are minimised and kept to the lowest possible level. We want to see effective and beneficial supports in place for those former residents. The costs of providing some architecture of delivery must be minimised. I hope the structures outlined in the legislation will not be over-bureaucratic or costly.

Over the past decade and more, many individuals and groups have worked very hard in dealing with difficult situations in being effective advocates for so many individuals who suffered so much. I compliment those individuals and those groups on what is, understandably, a difficult situation. They have been consistent and diligent in their representations. I want to place on the record of the House my admiration for the huge amount of work they have put in over the past decade and longer. I have been familiar with their work over the past 12 months since becoming my party's spokesperson on education and skills.

I wish to refer a few issues to the Minister to which he might respond when replying to the debate. The Minister stated that €21 million of the €110 million that would be made available through the fund, and which represents that cash portion of the offers made by the religious congregations, is already in the Central Bank. I presume he is satisfied that the remaining commitment will be honoured in a timely manner. I hope he will able to provide clarity as to when it is expected those contributions will be made. The commitment has been made and it must be honoured. A further question I had regarding charitable status has been answered by the Minister in his script in regard to the transfer of property.

The Minister said he will not be opening up eligibility to all former residents of institutions as the amount available would be greatly reduced along with the effectiveness of the fund if that were to be the case. It is only open to those who applied for compensation through the redress board. I have already outlined, at some length, my concern about some individuals, who met the criteria to have been given support by the redress board, who may be excluded. Am I correct in thinking that people who went before the Ryan commission are also excluded? I may not be clear on that but we may get confirmation at the end of the debate.

The Minister stated in a reply to a parliamentary question that he would consider reviewing who is eligible to apply for assistance following the establishment of the statutory fund in the event that applications to the fund not resulting in a significant expenditure of the fund. I tabled a number of parliamentary questions during recent months encouraging and urging the early publication of this legislation. The Minister in a reply to a recent parliamentary question stated, "I would suggest that the issue of who is eligible to apply for assistance could be reviewed following the establishment of the statutory fund in the event of the applications to the fund not resulting in a significant expenditure of the fund".

A further issue that keeps cropping up is that of the residents of the Magdalene Laundries and the difficulties they endured. Two or three further issues have also been brought to my attention. When the redress board was established I understood a firm commitment was given by the Government that there would be no means testing of the provision of services or means testing or taxation of the awards that were given. That has been honoured to date but there is a change in the legislation in regard to means testing of the provision of services. My reading of the provision in that respect may be incorrect and I hope it is.

On the issue of the national memorial, to which the Minister also referred, I understand a number of the representatives groups met Mr. Benton and the OPW at the time and they put a number of issues to the OPW regarding the timing of the provision of the memorial when all the other issues have been dealt with. That was my understanding in that respect.

On the issue of data and documentation held by the redress board, the Minister has rightly stated that the application process will be as practicable and as least bureaucratic as is possible in respect of the transfer of the basic amount of essential data. There is also the question of the storage of the documentation, which is absolutely confidential, on which the redress board worked. The Minister might give us some indication at the end of the Second Stage debate as to the long-term plans for ensuring the absolute confidentiality of the data that has been collected.

I wish to briefly mention one or two further issues. On the children's rights referendum, when I was Minister of State with responsibility for Children I brought a proposal to Government in late 2007 or early 2008 to establish the all-party Oireachtas committee. Excellent work was done by all the participants of all parties on that legislation.

See this speech in context