Victims lose out in abuse probe plan

VICTIMS of institutional child abuse are set to lose their right to confront their alleged abusers under new proposals to reduce the duration and cost of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

Two reports which reviewed problems with the structure of the Commission have made a series of recommendations which could dramatically reduce the number of cases coming before the inquiry’s Investigation Committee.

The main proposals by the Commission’s chairman, Mr Justice Seán Ryan and Attorney General, Rory Brady give the Committee increased discretionary powers.

The reviews by two of the country’s most senior legal experts were carried out in response to concerns that the inquiry as originally structured could cost over €200m and last 11 years.

However, Mr Justice Ryan said it was impossible to say what impact the new proposals, if implemented, would have on the cost and length of the inquiry.

The committee is currently investigating allegations by 1,712 former residents of over 100 institutions against almost 1,200 individuals dating back over 60 years.

Among the main reforms proposed are:

A preliminary examination of all cases to try and eliminate those with no realistic prospect of a finding.

The hearing of groups of cases as well as individual hearings.

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

Education Minister, Noel Dempsey, accepted last night that the Government had made an error of judgement in its original promise to victims of child abuse that all allegations would be fully investigated by the Commission. “We were trying to do what was right for victims,” he said.

However, the reaction of victim support groups to the two reports was largely mixed. While One in Four welcomed the fact that Mr Justice Ryan had ruled out adopting the controversial approach of random “sampling” of cases, another group, Survivors of Church Abuse (SOCA) claimed the recommendations represented sampling “by another name”.

In his report, Mr Justice Ryan claimed the problems which emerged since the establishment of the Commission in May 1999 were created “by excessive ambition”. He defined the main difficulty in processing the allegations of abuse as “one of case management”.

However, he acknowledged that some of the proposals diverted from the original structure of the inquiry.

“The medicine is not, however, without side effects. There is a price to be paid for effectiveness,” Mr Justice Ryan said.

The inquiry is still facing further delays as it awaits the drafting of amending legislation and the conclusion of a legal challenge against the Commission’s work by the Christian Brothers.

Nevertheless, Mr Justice Ryan said the inquiry could begin work on contacting all the victims to see if they still wanted to proceed with their cases through the Investigation Committee.

He also anticipated that the Commission could begin hearings on issues not affected by the litigation involving the Christian Brothers.

A report by the former chairperson of the Commission, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy, which is expected to contain criticisms of the assistance from the Government, is due to be published before the end of the month.

Mr Dempsey accepted that the total cost of investigating the scandal of child abuse, including payments made by the Residential Institutions Redress Board, was likely to eventually exceed €1 billion.