Results 29,281-29,300 of 33,581 for speaker:Catherine Connolly

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Compared to the courts, what is the average payout in the courts? The witness does have that information, because some cases went to court and the average payout was about €120,000 to €130,000. Is that not right for the ones that went to court?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: More than double.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: That is okay. I am not querying any of that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: And given the findings of the Ryan report.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: In the scheme of things, when the €1.2 billion is being quoted by the press, it is important to point out that on average people were getting €60,000, while many got €20,000. Many failed to tell their story because they were not able. Such was the abuse, they simply were not able to tell of what had happened to them. I will ask the witness a question before I get into...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: That is not my question. My question was whether the Department has a view.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: I ask the witness to listen. Did the Department of Education and Skills give feedback to the Minister or to anyone on the proposal in the interim report that the existing redress or a new redress scheme be made available to those children who were in mother and baby homes unaccompanied? Did the Department have a view on that and give feedback to say that a redress was not appropriate?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: I understand that. I am still specifically asking because-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Theoretically, it is still open and has not completed its business on outstanding issues.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: I am still asking the witness a specific question. Did the Department give feedback on the appropriateness or inappropriateness of setting up another redress board or extending this one in relation to the specific recommendation from the interim report on mother and baby homes?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: And that a new redress scheme was not appropriate?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Why am I asking that? First of all, it is very important. Second, the predictions of the Department of Education and Skills were totally wrong on the time the commission would take and the cost of it. Is that not correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: The Comptroller and Auditor General has pointed out how severe they were. Was €250 million the estimated cost of the redress board?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Was the witness there at the time?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: The estimate was made for €250 million and it ended up at €1.2 billion. Who was responsible for that forecast that was totally inaccurate, unreasonable and not based on reality? Who was responsible for that?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Was that not totally incompetent?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: How would that take the Department by surprise?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: It was totally incompetent and I rarely use words like that at this committee. To forecast the cost at €250 million and have the outturn at €1.2 billion shows me that the Department did not conduct a proper analysis. I refer back to the deferential attitude to the religious. It seems that persisted when officials were negotiating and making the indemnity agreement, to which I...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: The indemnity agreement signed in 2002 by the then Minister, Mr. Woods, was for €128 million. How much is outstanding? Is it correct that this is a legally binding agreement as opposed to the promise made a few years later?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 96 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Child Abuse Inquiry and Redress (13 Apr 2017)

Catherine Connolly: How much of the €128 million is outstanding?