Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 119: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will meet with a person (details supplied) currently on hunger strike outside Dáil Éireann in protest at her refusal to include the Morning Star mother and baby unit as an institution for consideration by the Redress Board. [32746/05]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 122: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if additional institutions will be added to the schedule of the Residential Institutions Redress Board; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32798/05]

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 129: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she has met with a person (details supplied) with regard to the inclusion of the Morning Star home under the terms of the Residential Institutions Redress Board; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32797/05]

Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 153: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason the Morning Star home has not been included under the schedule of the Residential Institutions Redress Board; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32796/05]

Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 198: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if the Morning Star home will be added to the schedule for the Residential Institutions Redress Board; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32813/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 119, 122, 129, 153 and 198 together.

As the Deputy is aware, the Residential Institutions Redress Act provides that the Minister may, by order, include in the Schedule to the Act any industrial school, reformatory school, orphanage, children's home, special school which was established for the purpose of providing education services to children with a physical or intellectual disability or hospital providing medical or psychiatric services to people with a physical or mental disability or mental illness in which children were placed and resident and in respect of which a public body had a regulatory or inspection function.

A total of 128 institutions were originally listed on the Schedule. Since the enactment of the legislation, my Department has been contacted by individuals and-or solicitors in relation to various institutions not specified in the Schedule, including the facility mentioned by the Deputies. Following consideration of the matter and consultation with relevant public bodies, I signed an order on 9 November 2004 which provided for the inclusion of 13 additional institutions in the Schedule. A further order was made on 1 July 2005 adding three institutions to the Schedule.

The Department of Health and Children was consulted by my Department in relation to the Morning Star mother and baby unit and it advised that this was a privately run facility which was not subject to State inspection or regulation. As a consequence it is not possible to give further consideration to the placement of this unit on the Schedule. The question of including additional institutions has now been fully considered by my Department in consultation with relevant Departments and it is not proposed to add any further institutions to the Schedule at this point.

It is important to note that in the Government's initiatives to address past abuse, the needs of those who suffered abuse in institutions not covered by the Act is recognised and provided for and a range of measures has been put in place to assist them. These include the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and dedicated counselling and other services for victims of abuse.

I have spoken to the person recently mentioned by the Deputies, and explained the situation to her. Officials in the Department have also outlined the position in relation to the Morning Star mother and baby unit to the person concerned on a number of occasions. An official from my Department also met the person on 20 October 2005 and explained that the legislation does not allow me to consider including the unit in the Schedule to the Residential Institutions Redress Act. However, I understand that she was resident as a child in another institution which is included in the Schedule and she has been advised by Department officials that she could explore, in consultation with her legal representative, the possibility of making an application to the redress board based on what happened to her in that institution.