A formal investigation is set to be launched into historical sexual abuses in day and boarding schools managed by religious orders, as a response to a pressing recommendation from a preliminary inquiry into 2,400 reported abuses in 308 institutions. Education Secretary Norma Foley confirmed on Tuesday that the Administration is prepared to put into action the primary suggestion of the expert panel headed by Mary O’Toole SC, which spearheaded the preparatory assessment.
Secretary Foley spoke about the 700-page report produced by the committee, referring to it as a distressing document with horrific reports of sexual abuse. During a media briefing at the Government Buildings, she acknowledged, however, that the Government had not yet pledged to execute another key suggestion made by the initial investigation. This pertains to the formulation of a reparation procedure for victims of abuse at the schools inspected, which encompass day and boarding schools, as well as special schools, managed by religious orders.
“Recommendations such as restitution are very much included and will be evaluated,” she stated. The Secretary also mentioned another significant recommendation several times, stating that the Government was considering expanding the investigative commission’s scope from religious-operated schools to cover all of the country’s 760 secondary schools.
The expert panel who conducted the investigation suggested that limiting the scope to institutions only run by religious orders of the Catholic Church was unduly restrictive. Secretary Foley agreed that more accusations would be expected when the commission was established.
This matter was debated among Ministers at the Cabinet meeting that approved the commission. While it was still seen as premature to determine how many accusations would come forward, statistics from the Central Statistics Office show that more than 30,000 individuals have historically been subjected to abuse within schools.
The Government has yet to decide who will lead the inquiry but it’s probable that a sitting or retired judge will be selected.
Religious orders are forecasted to contribute to expenses if a reparation scheme is eventually approved.
Ms Foley articulated, in the wake of the report’s publication, the explicit desire of survivors for “accountability”, achievable predominantly through the establishment of an Investigation Commission.
Taoiseach Simon Harris issued a statement on Tuesday evening affirming the government’s intended response to the report on abuse within ecclesiastically managed schools to be guided by the survivors’ needs. He confessed the revelations in the preliminary report to be deeply distressing, identifying this grim aspect of our history reverberating detrimentally throughout numerous lives, families, and communities.
In his remarks, Harris emphasised the vital necessity of methodically instituting a broad statutory inquiry to further scrutinise this abuse. “In constructing this commission, getting the reference terms and structure accurate is of utmost importance, and ensuring that our subsequent actions are unequivocally survivor-centric is crucial,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, Tánaiste Micheál Martin lauded Ms O’Toole and Kieran McGrath, a child safety expert, for their work on the report, while citing the disclosed magnitude and intensity of the abuse in schools as shocking. Martin urged full accountability and justice for the victims.
The ensuing commission will possess the capacity to obligate witness presence and document submission and offer the alternative of private testimony to those abuse survivors who prefer not to publicly recount their experiences.
The mainstream perspective amid the 149 survivors who interacted deeply with the initial inquiry was that a confrontational modus operandi, like an Inquiry Tribunal, is ill-suited to the task of examining the sexual abuse issue.