Claims from abuse victims surge

SURVIVORS of institutional child abuse are predicting that the number of applications received by the Residential Institutions Redress Board will rocket to 12,000 by the December deadline.

The figure is double the number of applications that were expected to be made when the redress scheme was launched in 2002.

Patrick Walsh, British spokesperson for the Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA), said he had been reliably informed by survivors that the number of applications had reached 8,522 by August 22 last - an increase of 1,476 in less than one month.

The board has stated in its latest newsletter that it had received 7,046 applications as at July 28 last. More than 400 applications were received in June.

Mr Walsh described the latest sudden surge in applications as “quite extraordinary” and the largest in any month since the scheme was launched.

“If applications continue to arrive at the board at that rate, the final number may well be in excess of 12,000 by the closing date of December 15, 2005.

“It is far more than was envisaged when the board was established,” he said.

“Clearly there had been a gross underestimation of the number of people who would apply.”

Up to July 28, the board had processed 3,665 cases: 2,704 offers have been made following settlement talks and a further 876 were made following hearings.

Five applicants rejected their awards; there were no awards made in the case of 11 applications and awards were refused to 74 applicants.

The average value of awards made up to the end of July was €77,150, the largest being €300,000.

Mr Walsh said his information now indicated that the figure of 8,522 had since been exceeded.

He pointed out that the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, chaired by Mr Justice Sean Ryan, had whittled down the number of cases he wished to hear to around 600.

“That figure is in stark contrast to the 12,000 written complaints of abuse being made to the Redress Board that will be shredded after they are processed,” said Mr Walsh.

“It is a pity that the findings cannot be gathered from the Redress Board, given the volume of complaints that are going to be heard there. It also validates the position that we took in the summer of 2000 when we said that what survivors really wanted was a redress process rather than a talking shop.”