The Irish Times – Friday, November 20, 2009
PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
THE COST of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse could be as much as 60 times the original Department of Education estimate, it was disclosed at a hearing of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday.
Department secretary general Brigid McManus agreed the original €2 – €2.5 million estimate was “somewhat wide of the mark”. She told committee members that as of April this year, €71 million in costs had been paid.
This was expected to rise to €126 – €136 million when all third-party and other costs were covered, based on information available, she said.
The work of the commission would not be completed before the end of 2010, as preparation of its report for the deaf and visually impaired was ongoing, as was that on third-party costs and the cataloguing of documents, she said.
Commending the work of the commission, Labour Party TD Roisín Shortall recalled that originally it was expected to have completed its work within two years, at costs ranging between €2 million and €2.5 million.
“It’s now likely to last 10 years at a cost of about €130 million. This is completely out of line. Why was it that the department got it so wrong on both counts?” she asked.
Ms McManus replied that a simpler process had been envisaged than was the case, with legal representation rising and individual hearings becoming like court cases, though not on the scale of a court.
Unforeseen judicial reviews had also been initiated. At the outset people “underestimated the scale of what was being embarked on,” she said.
Ms Shortall further pointed out that the original estimated cost of redress for former residents of institutions had been put by the department at €250 million.
“It is now at € 1 billion plus,” she said. Ms McManus said the scale and number of complainants who wished to give evidence (to the Redress Board) had been underestimated.
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