Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of applications received by the Residential Institutions Redress Board; the number of payments made; and the amount of the payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13518/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Residential Institutions Redress Board was established under statute in 2002 to provide financial redress to victims of child abuse in residential institutions in order to assist them in their recovery and enhance the quality of the remainder of their lives. The board is independent in the performance of its functions.

The board received 14,809 applications by 15 December 2005, the closing date for receipt of applications. At the end of March 2006, the board had made 5,096 awards totalling €378 million. The average award to date is €74,000 and awards have varied between zero and €300,000.

The final cost of the redress scheme must be viewed in the context of the Government apology to the victims of abuse and its desire to put in place a system to enable victims to get redress without having to go before the courts. In any event, very substantial costs would have been incurred if no such scheme had been established and if cases had been processed in the normal manner through the courts, though this would have placed far more pressure on the victims.