Public Consultation
Proposed Statutory Fund to support the needs of Survivors of Residential Institutional Child Abuse.
The Government has announced its proposal to use €110m of the offers of contributions from religious Congregations to establish and operate a Statutory Fund to support the needs of survivors of residential institutional child abuse and for other education and welfare purposes.
The Statutory Fund is being proposed to support the continuing education, health and welfare needs faced by survivors. The Fund will not provide cash compensation for survivors and will be separate and distinct from the compensation scheme operated by the independent Residential Institutions Redress Board, which provides fair and reasonable awards to victims of institutional childhood abuse.
As part of the consultation process, the Department of Education and Skills is meeting with groups representing survivors of institutional child abuse and the religious Congregations. However, many survivors are not affiliated to groups and may wish to contribute independently to the process. As the Department wishes to consult as widely as possible it invites the views of all interested parties.
Submissions should identify, as far as possible, the specific needs facing survivors and suggest how the Fund should operate to assist in meeting these needs.
Written submissions can be emailed to StatutoryFund@education.gov.ie or posted to Statutory Fund Consultation, Department of Education and Skills, Block 2, Marlborough Street, Dublin 1.
A Freefone Service is available to receive comments from Monday to Friday between 10am and 1pm by phoning 1800 938 140 (Republic of Ireland) or 0800 0148912 (NI & UK) (this service is being operated by Barnardos on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills).
The closing date for the receipt of submissions is Friday 27th August, 2010.
Please note that all comments, observations and submissions will be subject to the Freedom of Information Acts 1997-2003. Consequently when submitting material, a person should identify any information which they do not wish to have released together with an accompanying explanation.
