Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 37: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her Department's estimate of the cost of payments of compensation by the Residential Institutions Redress Board to persons who suffered institutional abuse; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27664/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Residential Institutions Redress Board is an independent body established under statute in December 2002 to provide financial redress to persons who, as children, were abused while resident in industrial schools, reformatories or other institutions that were subject to State regulation or inspection.

Based on the latest information from the redress board, it is estimated that the total cost of the redress scheme, including legal and administration costs, may be of the order of €800 million. I should emphasise that this is very much a tentative estimate and is subject to change in the light of the ongoing administration of the scheme. The final cost of the scheme will not be known until end 2007 or early 2008 when all applications have been processed by the board.

I would also like to point out that the cost of the redress scheme should be viewed in the context of the Government's concern to provide reasonable compensation towards the hurt and suffering experienced by victims of child abuse and the very substantial costs that would have been incurred in any event if no such scheme had been established and if cases had been processed in the normal manner through the courts.