Special Report Day 2: Schools Reject Abuse Pay Pleas

By Conor Ryan
Irish Examiner
October 2, 2012

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/special-report-day-2-schools-reject-abuse-pay-pleas-209544.html


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An appeal to 17 managers of schools and homes where children were abused has failed to illicit a single additional contribution to the €1.47bn redress bill.

The institutions accou-nted for 13% of initial complaints to the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in Residential Institutions.

They were run by patrons or religious orders who remained outside the 2002 indemnity deal and so were not obliged to make a direct contribution to redress.

In Oct 2010, the Government wrote to 18 orders, one in error, and asked for a voluntary contribution in light of the findings of the Ryan Report. No offers were forthcoming.

These bodies included:

* Enable Ireland, which ran Marino School in Wicklow;

* The governors of the Baltimore Industrial School in Co Cork;

* The Cope Foundation, which provided services to three special schools in Montenotte, Cork;

* The Daughters of the Cross of Liege, who ran the Beechpark school for the deaf in Stillorgan;

* The Bishop of Raphoe in relation to St Columba's industrial school in Killybegs.

Efforts were made, for the purposes of this article, to contact the bodies involved.

The Bishop of Cork and Ross John Buckley, who was written to as a member of the board of governors of Baltimore Industrial School, said there was money left in a legacy account. However, the Charity Commissioners has not allowed this to be accessed for legal reasons.

Enable Ireland said it regretted what happened at Marino and co-operated with the redress board.

However, it "operates within very challenging financial constraints and regrets that it is not in a position to contribute to the costs of the State".

The Cope Foundation said while it provides services to the special schools, it did not manage them.

It wrote to the department in Nov 2010 and said for this reason, "there is no cause for the foundation to consider making any contribution towards the cost of the response to residential institutional child abuse".