Victims of child abuse urge Dáil to close legal loophole

VICTIMS of child abuse want the Dáil to close off a legal loophole through which members of religious orders and the State can escape punishment for telling lies in victim compensation claims.

Patrick Walsh, British spokesperson for the Irish Survivors of Child Abuse, said the Residential Institutions Redress Act, as it stood, allowed members of religious orders and the State to get away with telling untruths in compensation actions brought before the Redress Board.

Under the act only victims of abuse found guilty of perjury face severe penalties, including imprisonment. SOCA has asked the leaders of all the opposition parties in the Dáil to take the issue up with the Minister for Education, Noel Dempsey, as soon as possible.