At the end of a programme on RTÉ the other night, this message appeared. “In its correspondence with RTÉ and survivors, the Residential Institutions Redress Board has always referred to the implications of breaking section 28(6) of the Redress Act.”

Survivors of abuse, along with legal experts and academics have lined up in opposition to controversial legislation to seal millions of child abuse records for 75 years.

The legislation had been due in Committee State in the coming weeks but this has now been deferred to allow the Oireachtas education committee to further scrutinise.

An advisory council to the National Archives told the Government as far back as 2013 that it was possible to seal child abuse records for longer than 30 years.

Anonymising records and contacting institutional abuse survivors instead of sealing records for 75 years would involve “considerable expense” and “significant practical difficulties”.

A majority of abuse survivors have expressed concern over government plans to seal millions of child abuse records for 75 years.

The redress process put in place for survivors of institutional abuse was “adversarial, difficult, traumatic, and negative”, a new report has found.

A religious order that accepted that children were abused in its care told the Minister for Education in 2015 that plans to retain child abuse records would lead to “eternal besmirching of the names of good people”.

Legislation to seal millions of child abuse records for 75 years was drafted so “all possible provisions” of the National Archives Act, which allows the public or State bodies to access records, would be disapplied.

On 20 May 2009, Ireland made international headlines when the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) was published.

Controversial new laws to seal the testimony of those abused in residential institutions for 75 years are to be debated in the Dáil today.

Thousands of testimonies relating to child abuse in institutions and related records should be redacted and anonymised, instead of being sealed for 75 years.

When, on Wednesday, Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley insisted that killings by the British army or police during the Troubles were “not crimes” she gave a perfect example of what happens when politicians are ill-informed and have no empathy with their brief. Despite her immediate apology, the blunder suggests she is hardly the person

Just over a week ago, it emerged that the Cabinet did something very “dangerous”.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Education Minister Joe McHugh have sought to defend a “dangerous” decision to seal records of testimonies relating to child abuse in residential institutions for 75 years.

Supports from the €110m fund administered by Caranua are not to be extended beyond survivors of institutional child abuse, Education Minister Richard Bruton has decided.

More than €193.5m has been paid out in legal costs relating to applications for the Government’s redress scheme for victims of institutional child abuse.

The fight for women who worked in Magdalene laundries but had been excluded from redress has finally been recognised in a report that criticises the Department of Justice’s handling of the scheme, writes Conall Ó Fátharta.

More than a dozen appeals of decisions on applications for health and education supports for victims of institutional child abuse are being delayed due to a legal challenge brought by the body which administers the funding.

A bitter nine-month behind the scenes row with the Department of Justice led the Ombudsman to launch an investigation into the “possible maladministration” of the Magdalene redress scheme.

Because of the premature closure of St Patrick’s ‘prison’, violent young offenders are inadequately housed and are a danger to themselves and to care workers, says John Byrne 

Survivors of child abuse appealed 47 decisions by the body established to oversee requests for assistance from the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund last year.

The way has been cleared for a woman who suffered institutional abuse to make a late claim for redress following the Supreme Court’s finding in favour of her challenge.

A child abuse survivor has criticised the Government’s decision to lock the personal witness statements victims gave to state investigations away for 75 years as “very extreme” and “odd”.

Judgment has been reserved in a Supreme Court case where a woman, who suffered institutional abuse while in state care as a child, was refused in her application for redress because she was too late.

It was only when Senator David Norris won his appeal to the Euopean Court of Human Rights that the State enacted legislation decriminalising homosexuality.

In the early ’90s, her lone voice exposed a dark period in history, writes Conall Ó Fátharta

A European court ruling in Strasbourg this morning could pave the way for hundreds of cases against the Government for abuse of children in schools.

A scheme has been launched to assist people who, as children, experienced abuse in institutions in Ireland and who received awards either through the Residential Institutions Redress Board or in the courts.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn repeats his mantra about the 50/50 redress process asked of religious orders after the Ryan Report was published.

Frances Fitzgerald may not have liked being ordered before the Dublin Children’s Court but at least she wasn’t threatened with jail, unlike three of her predecessors.

Payment of compensation to survivors of the Magdalene Laundries will be made on a ex-gratia basis without establishing any liability on behalf of State bodies.

The relentless work of Mary Raftery exposed what went on behind the walls of the Magdalene Laundries, writes Dan Buckley

With reference to the recent article by Victoria White and subsequent editorial comment concerning the Bethany Home, it should be made clear that the Church of Ireland has not ignored the issues raised by former residents.

Survivors of the Magdalene Laundries have appealed to the Government not to allow another year go by without redress for their suffering.

Religious congregations must meet 50% of the cost of the State’s response to residential abuse, writes Ruairi Quinn

Two sisters who allege they were abused in residential institutions have brought a challenge to the refusal, on grounds of being out of time, to allow them bring an application for redress.

A woman who the High Court heard suffered "severe sexual and physical abuse" as a child in a state institution has brought a legal challenge aimed at overturning the Residential Institution Redress Board's refusal to allow her bring a claim for compensation.

SURVIVORS of the Magdalene Laundries want to ensure their involvement in any future redress scheme will not preclude them from including their life stories in a national museum.

A WOMAN who claims she was abused at an industrial school has lost her High Court challenge against the Residential Institutions Redress Board’s refusal to allow her bring a claim for compensation.

A woman who claims she was abused at an industrial school has today lost her High Court challenge against the Redress Institution Board's refusal to allow her bring a claim for compensation.

THE Government is to proceed with legislation to establish a statutory fund with the power to arrange and grant-aid a range of services to support victims of residential institutional abuse.

THE Department of Education has set aside almost €12.5 million to meet legal costs associated with the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse this year.

ALMOST €850 million has been paid out to date to people abused as children in institutions.

THE publication of the Ryan report on institutional child abuse has led to savings of €15.4 million on legal bills last year.

THE Sisters of Mercy have offered to contribute cash and properties worth over €127.5m in compensation to the victims of physical and sexual abuse in former industrial schools run by the order.

A NUMBER of religious orders have yet to submit details of extra contributions they propose making towards compensation for institutional child abuse victims.

An man who lost his legal challenge against the Redress Board's refusal to accept his application for compensation is to appeal his case to the Supreme Court.