John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 565: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason an award agreed with the Residential Institutions Redress Board by a person (details supplied) has not yet issued from the solicitor; and if she will ensure that payment issues immediately. [33162/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Residential Institutions Redress Board is independent in the performance of its functions in accordance with the terms of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 and my Department is not a party to the consideration of applications for financial redress. If the person mentioned in the Deputy's question has accepted an award made by the board or by the review committee on review, he must agree in writing to give up any right he may have to bring a claim for damages in the courts in respect of the abuse and injuries covered by the award. The person is given one month in which to decide if this is what he wishes to do. Once the board has received this agreement the payment will issue as soon as possible.

Section 27 of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 provides that all reasonable legal costs and other costs associated with the preparation and presentation of an application to the redress board will be met by the board. In the event that agreement cannot be reached between the board and the applicant's legal representative, the matter is referred to the Taxing Master of the High Court for determination.

The redress board's application form highlights the fact that if a person is represented by a solicitor all correspondence in connection with their application is sent directly to the solicitor and the board's guidelines and other publicity material states that all reasonable legal costs incurred in respect of applications for redress are payable by the board.