Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. For decades this country placed children behind bars, the vast majority for reasons of poverty and class. Father Flanagan of the boy's town schools in the United States visited the Irish industrial schools in 1946 and described them as a national disgrace. That led to a public debate in the Dáil and national media exposure. Their abolition was decades away and exposing the true horror of what went on within the walls was even further away.

As the Minister of State knows, Caranua was established to aid those who survived institutional abuse in Ireland. This month, its CEO stated that in the next few months it would finalise its operations while preparing to close on Thursday, 3 December of this year. The final funding support payments will be processed by 11 December, which is just two weeks away.

I have been contacted by representatives of some of the clients of Caranua. As I said, it is ceasing funding and winding down. However, it will not have completed its caseload by the time the fund is closed. I understand there are 86 outstanding cases, and I will briefly outline two such outstanding cases, the details of which have already been forwarded to the Department of Education.

In the first case, an applicant to Caranua applied for housing assistance in 2014. The application was supported by occupational therapists employed by Caranua. Three separate reports recommended that Caranua should pay for an extension to provide the applicant with a downstairs bathroom and bedroom. He cannot access the upstairs part of his home unassisted and is forced to urinate in his backyard and sleep in a chair. In February 2020, Caranua finally agreed to provide the person with funding for the extension. However, that funding has still not been provided.

A second person applied for help with improvements and repairs to her home. Caranua appointed its preferred supplier, but the work was carried out to a very poor standard. Other applications the person made were not dealt with at all. It was only after the last meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts, when this issue was raised with Caranua, that the case began to be resolved. Immediately after that meeting, Caranua contacted the person and apologised. That process is ongoing but is still a long way from being completed.

I have some questions for the Minister of State. What will happen to the outstanding applications following the closure of Caranua? While it said it believes all applications will be resolved by 11 December 2020, what contingencies have the Department put in place in the event that there are any outstanding applications? I believe that will very much be the case. On 4 November, it confirmed that there were 86 extending applications. There were also seven outstanding appeals.

Caranua intends to delete all the case files when it closes. What consultation was undertaken with survivors before this decision was taken? Once it closes, what supports will be available to survivors of historical institutional child abuse, many of whom have not received any financial assistance? Will the Government respond to the call for urgent measures to address the needs identified by the survivor consultation group which reported in July 2019?