Victims to lose rights under inquiry rule changes

VICTIMS of alleged child abuse are likely to lose their right to have their case dealt with entirely on an individual basis by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, under a series of recommendations by its new chairman.

Mr Justice Seán Ryan accepted that his proposals were not without side-effects for the 1,712 people who have made formal complaints to the inquiry’s Investigation Committee.

“There is a price to be paid for effectiveness. Some loss of entitlements of victims has to be acknowledged,” he said.

He claimed that the essential problem which has dogged the progress of the inquiry since its establishment in May 1999 was one of “case management”.

In a 73-page report published yesterday, he made a series of recommendations designed to reduce the time and cost of examining allegations of child abuse at more than 100 institutions over the past six decades.

However, Mr Justice Ryan stressed that any difficulties which that had already been acknowledged by the commission, including its former chairperson, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy, were “not of its making”.

He described the commission as “an ambitious centrepiece in a generous package of reliefs for victims of child abuse”.

“The problems of implementing the Act are created by excessive ambition. The Act tries to do too much and at the same time,” remarked Mr Justice Ryan.

He also pointed out that problems which did emerge could not have been properly anticipated until it was known how many victims and alleged abusers would be involved in the inquiry.

The main purpose of the Ryan report is to set out proposals for the future structure of the inquiry’s Investigation Committee in a bid to avoid earlier estimates that it could take 11 years and cost €200m to complete its work.

“It seems clear that the committee simply cannot succeed if it continues on the basis of the statutory footing, if that is unaltered, and on the basis of its existing procedures,” said the chairperson.

Among the main changes proposed are:

The removal of the obligation on the committee to hear each and every allegation of abuse.

The ability to conduct hearings relating to a group of complainants rather than on an individual basis.

The entitlement of the committee to make a preliminary assessment of cases where it believes there is no real prospect of a finding.

The removal of the requirement for every victim to give oral evidence.

However, Mr Justice Ryan declined to make any predictions on how his proposals, if implemented, would impact on the cost and duration of the inquiry.

He also accepted that “a cloud of uncertainty” hung over the committee’s future work until a legal challenge against its procedures by the Christian Brothers is finalised.

Nevertheless, he said the commission would contact all complainants in the interim to ascertain if they wished to pursue their case through the Investigation Committee as well as engaging in a process of consultation with all the relevant parties.

The committee will also try to schedule hearings which are not affected by the litigation involving the Christian Brothers. One such instance is the investigation into claims by six former residents of Newtownforbes Industrial School, Co Longford.

Mr Justice Ryan said he believed the suggested solutions were fair and reasonable to both the victims and respondents which would also have the incidental benefit of reducing the cost of the commission’s work

He also noted that the circumstances which led to the resignation of his predecessor, Ms Justice Laffoy, last September was not a matter for his review.