Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 190: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason persons who suffered abuse in residential institutions are precluded from applying for redress to the Residential Institutions Redress Board in situations where said abuse occurred when they were under the then age of majority of 21 years but over the age of 18; and her proposals to enable redress to be made available to those who were abused in such circumstances. [19535/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Residential Institutions Redress Board was established to make fair and reasonable payments to persons who, as children, suffered abuse while resident in Industrial Schools, Reformatory Schools and other institutions subject to state regulation or inspection.

Persons who were placed in such institutions generally remained there until they reached their 16th Birthday, at which time they were released either back to their family units or to employment. In certain exceptional circumstances, my Department did sanction an extension of the period of residency past the age of 16, usually for one year or less and primarily to allow residents to complete educational programmes. In such cases, the children involved would have remained under the care of the management of the school and the State would have continued to provide for their upkeep in the institution. However, such persons would still be under the age of 18 upon final release.

Once officially released, the State would have borne no responsibility for persons who remained in certain institutions. From the information available to my Department, it appears that a number of residents would have taken up employment with/through the management of the institutions. This is a private arrangement between the former resident and their employer and the state could not be held liable for any abuse which may have occurred in such circumstances or during that period.

The Residential Institutions Redress Act, 2002 defines a "child" as a person who has not attained the age of 18 years. Consequently, persons between the ages of 18 and 21 years are not eligible to be considered for redress under the terms of the aforementioned Act. It should be noted that a person's ineligibility to apply for redress by means of the Redress Board does not affect their statutory right to explore any other legal avenue which may be open to them.