Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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At present 128 institutions are listed on the Schedule to the Residential Institutions Redress Act. Section 4 of the Act enables additional institutions that are identified as reformatory schools, industrial schools, orphanages, children's homes and special schools, in respect of which a public body had a regulatory or inspection function, to be added to the schedule. My Department has received correspondence from both individuals and survivor groups identifying a number of additional institutions, including Mary Immaculate School for Deaf Infant Boys, Beechpark, Stillorgan, Dublin, that may be eligible for inclusion in the schedule. Discussions have taken place between my Department and other Departments that may have provided a regulatory function in the operation of these facilities in order to ascertain whether these institutions are in fact eligible for inclusion. The initial information received in some cases was scant due to the long period that had elapsed since these institutions were closed and therefore the process of verifying each of these institutions has been time consuming. I intend that a list of additional institutions will be brought before both Houses of the Oireachtas as soon as the verification process is completed.