Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of people who have applied to the Residential Institutions Redress Board; the estimated cost of paying all of the awards under the board's remit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40175/06]

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 received 14,541 applications by the 15th of December, 2005, the closing date for receipt of applications. My Department has included a contingency provision of up to €1.3 billion for the total liability potentially arising from the scheme in the notes to the 2005 Appropriation Accounts. This was based on the total number of applications to the Board, a cumulative average award of €76,000 at end 2005 and estimated legal and administrative costs of approximately 20% of awards.

The final cost of the scheme must be viewed in the context of the Government apology to the victims of 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.