Redress Board ‘capping’ awards

CHILD abuse survivors say they are not getting a good deal from the Residential Institutions Redress Board because of Government pressure to reduce compensation awards.

The Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA) said the board had not met its promise to match or exceed High Court awards to survivors.

“Not one award has breached the €300,000 maximum payment made to two prominent survivors in the High Court,” said John Kelly of SOCA.

“Somebody in the Government has gone to the board and is insisting that the awards be capped at a certain level,” he claimed.

“I know some of the people who went to the board and the abuse they suffered was atrocious and was amazed that their compensation award did not breach the €300,000 mark,” he said.

The board, which placed its first annual report before the Houses of the Oireachtas last Friday, expects to pay compensation to almost 7,000 victims of child abuse in religious institutions.

When the board was established the Government insisted at the time that the likely cost of the scheme would be between €200 and €300 million.

SOCA believes that the board is now under pressure to reduce costs so the final bill is closer to €500 million.

Mr Kelly claimed the board was not basing compensation payments on the merits of each individual case in a bid to keep costs down.