Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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511. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to ensure that there is a gender balance on the board of Caranua; if she will provide a list of the current board members; the states in which they are resident; the date of the appointment; and the date that their term will expire. [33070/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Section 11 of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 provides for the membership of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board (Caranua) and related matters. Section 11(3) provides that the Minister shall, in so far as is possible, ensure an equitable balance between men and women in the composition of the Board. The Board is currently made up of 5 men and 4 women. The names of the current Board members together with their dates of appointment are set out below. The members reside in Ireland except where otherwise show. All of the appointments are due to expire at the end of the 4 year period commencing on 25 March 2013.

Mr David O'Callaghan (Chair) - Appointed 25 February 2014

Ms Rosemary Adaser (UK resident) - Appointed 11 March 2015

Mr Damian Casey - Appointed 25 March 2013

Mr Austin Currie - Appointed 25 March 2013

Mr Tom Daly - Appointed 25 March 2013

Ms Katherine Finn BL - Appointed 25 March 2013

Mrs Frances Harrington – Appointed 29 January 2014

Mr David Lane (UK resident) – Appointed 25 July 2013

Ms Phyllis Morgan (UK resident) - Appointed 25 March 2013

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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512. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of concerns from male survivors of institutional abuse resident in Ireland that they are under-represented on the board of Caranua; the reason there are more United Kingdom residents appointed to the board; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33071/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Appointments to the Board of Caranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund, are made in accordance with the provisions of Section 11 of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 and with the Government's procedures for the making of appointments to State boards.

Section 11(1) of the 2012 Act provides for the appointment of a 9 member Board, of whom 4 are persons who were resident in an institution specified in the schedule to the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2002 before they attained the age of 18 years, while section 11(3) provides that, in making appointments, the Minister shall, in so far as is possible, ensure an equitable balance between men and women in the composition of the Board. The Board of Caranua as currently composed reflects these two statutory requirements. I should point out also that the Board includes three persons who reside in the United Kingdom, this reflects the significant number of former residents residing there.

The most recent appointment to fill a casual vacancy on the Board of Caranua was made in accordance with the new procedures recently put in place for the making of appointments to State Boards.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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513. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if any action has been taken against the chief executive officer of Caranua for using confidential information received from the redress board which profiled survivors of abuse; if she is aware that this breaches legislation; if she received legal advice on the matter; and, if so, from whom. [33072/15]

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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514. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she has received any report or information from the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner regarding the compliance of Caranua, including its chief executive officer, board and employees, regarding their compliance with data protection legislation; the date on which she received this information; if she will make this information public; and any action she took as a result of this information. [33073/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 513 and 514 together.

I am advised that in 2013 Caranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board, confirmed that the anonymised preliminary analysis of data received from the Residential Institutions Redress Board under the provisions of section 24 of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 was destroyed and that it would only use the data received in accordance with the provisions of section 24. I understand that this matter is addressed in the minutes of Caranua's Board meeting of 14 November 2013, which are available on the organisation's website (www.caranua.ie), where the unintentional breach of section 24 is noted together with the Board's majority decision to record its apology for this breach. I have not sought legal advice in relation to the matters raised by the Deputy nor I have I received any communication from the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in regard to these matters.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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515. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to review the current eligible services that survivors of institutional abuse may currently apply for through Caranua, such as funeral and burial services, for survivors as well as their spouses; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33074/15]

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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516. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 972 of 9 June 2015, the date on which she requested Caranua to set out its case for the proposed expansion of approved service classes in accordance with the Act; if she has received a response on this from Caranua; the details of the case made; and the date on which she plans to address the necessary changes. [33075/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 515 and 516 together.

Section 8 of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act, 2012 sets out the classes of services from which approved services can be determined by Caranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board. In accordance with section 8(3), I can prescribe additional classes of service following a recommendation of the Board of Caranua or following consultation with it. Any such regulations require a positive motion of both Houses of the Oireachtas.

Caranua raised the issue of expanding the classes of approved service to include additional services, such as funerals, with me by way of a letter dated 21 October 2014. In accordance with the Act, when making such recommendations, Caranua shall have regard to the likely effect of the provision of the service on the health and general well-being; the personal and social development; the educational development or the living conditions of former residents as well as the need for minimum standards to be met by approved service providers.

In a letter of 4 November 2014 I requested Caranua to set out the case for the proposed expansion of approved service classes in accordance with the Act and I will consider the matter further on receipt of its response.