Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. Speaking to section 32, again the approach that is being adopted with the payment scheme is one of a single payment recognising the circumstances experienced by former residents of these institutions.The decision - it is one we went through in some detail during our hearings last week - was based on the fact that to start to individualise the experiences of applicants and ask people to come forward and speak about their particular experiences risked: a retraumatisation; an issue to do with proof in terms of could survivor A prove they were discriminated against on a racial basis or could survivor B prove that they received physical abuse in an institution; and the difficulties at this remove, particularly for the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, of securing prove, where proof was perhaps available, the risk of retraumatisation where that proof was brought forward, and the risk, if someone tried to bring forward proof, of it being adjudicated not to reach the standard required in order to be accepted. All of this was not just the interdepartmental group operating on its own; it was looking at the experiences here in Ireland with other redress schemes that have operated here, but also looking at schemes that have operated in other countries as well.

I made reference to the stolen generation scheme in Australia. Senator Higgins made the point that that is a different scheme. The Senator is right. Nevertheless, a significant decision was made in the context of that scheme to move from the individualised approach that they began with to the more generalised approach recognising the sum of trauma or sum of impact that time spent in these institutions had. Whereas it is not perfect - and the Department, the Government and I do not suggest that it is - the scheme will allow for the rapid provision of substantial levels of payments to a large number of people without requiring them to give evidence and run the risk of being retraumatised.