Religious orders will be ‘held accountable’ for sex abuse crimes in schools

By Cate McCurry, PA

Institutions and religious orders involved in historical sex abuse in schools will be “held accountable” for the “awful” crimes, the education minister has vowed.

The Government approved the establishment of a commission of investigation into allegations of historical sex abuse in schools across the country.

Mr Justice Michael McGrath will chair the commission.

Minister for Education Helen McEntee, who outlined the details of the commission of investigation, said that any redress scheme would have to be funded by the religious orders and organisations.

Speaking at Government Buildings on Tuesday, Ms McEntee said that more works needed to be done to establish exactly what is owned and in the possession of the religious orders.

The scoping inquiry found some 2,395 allegations of sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders, involving 884 alleged abusers in 308 schools across the country, between 1927 and 2013.

Most of the allegations were reported from the records of some 42 religious orders.

The commission will examine the handling of allegations, suspicions and concerns of sex abuse in schools, failure to treat concerns, causes and responsibility for such failure, failure to prevent harm, and the concealment of child sex abuse.

Ms McEntee said work is ongoing around how such a redress scheme would work, but said that it must be funded by religious orders and any other school organisations “involved in these awful crimes”.

The Fine Gael minister said it will take five years to complete, at a cost of tens of millions of euros.

She said the Government was examining a number of ways to make this happen, including making legislative change.

Ms McEntee said that any steps to secure or maximise payment for a redress scheme is being worked on by the Attorney General

“It is important to stress that the preferred outcome here is that religious institutions and organisations would come forward,” she added.

“The commission will be separated into two parts, but they will happen in tandem.

“The first will be the investigation, and the intention is that the chair will be supported by two commissioners.

“One commissioner which will look at the investigation into handling of sexual abuse claims in religious schools.

“The second commissioner will start work on the investigation into sexual abuse in schools that were non-religious run schools.

“The third commissioner will then focus solely on the survivor engagement forum.

“The forum itself will be non-adversarial.

“There will be no cross examination.

“It will be anonymised, and it will mean that every single person who wishes to come forward to tell their story, to tell what happened to them, in that non-adversarial way that they would be able to do so, and it will allow all survivors to do this.”

She added: “The work that is happening in parallel is further examination of the religious orders, what funds they have, what assets they have, what levers may be used by government to ensure that funding is provided by those religious groups and orders.

 

“It’s only after that that obviously a decision would have to be taken on a redress scheme.

“So while it’s happening in parallel, it’s not the establishment of a redress scheme, it’s for the work that is needed, but I’m really clear those who are responsible should be held accountable, and that includes financially, but there is a body of work still needed.

“There are a number of different measures that we’re working on at the moment. Some would require legislative change.

“Some of those would relate to limitations for civil claims, the statute of limitations that obviously applies to individuals who are taking cases.”

Ms McEntee said that a clear five-year time line has been set out to ensure that it is not an “open-ended scheme”.

“The chair, accompanied by additional commissioners and a support team will be in place by October 1, and they have been given a five-year time limit to complete this work,” the minister added.

“Importantly, and very clearly outlined in the terms of reference is that no later than two years into their work, the chair must provide a report to the minister of the day, outlining whether or not the work of the commission of investigation is on track to be completed within the five years.

“If it is not, there is a very clear obligation to redefine the scope or the work that is being done to make sure that this is done on time.

“I am absolutely committed and determined in supporting what will be an independent commission of investigation, but supporting their work that this is done on time, that survivors do not have to wait, that this does not go on indefinitely, and that importantly, the terms of reference would set out how we investigate the handling of what happened in schools who was responsible, where abuses were raised, where concerns were raised, what happened then, that that can be identified.

“But if we are not on track, if the chair feels that there are changes that need to be made, that will have to be outlined very clearly in a note to the minister no later than two years.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.