Claim for industrial school abuse redress can be reconsidered

A 58-year-old man can have his claim for compensation over abuse he says he suffered as a child in an industrial school reconsidered by the Residential Institutions Redress Board, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Mr Justice Gerard Hogan, on behalf of the three-judge Appeal Court, yesterday quashed a High Court decision agreeing with the Redress Board that the man had applied too late under the compensation scheme.

The board had refused to extend time for him to apply because he had not established exceptional circumstances, as required by the 2002 law which set up the redress system.