The Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey, agreed yesterday that the total cost to the State of dealing with the abuse of children in residential institutions could have been over €1 billion unless changes were made to the working of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent, reports.
He estimated the likely costs to be accrued at the Redress Board could be some €500 million, which would be paid out in compensation. A similar sum would have been incurred, mainly in legal costs, by the commission, mainly through its investigation committee
He referred to an extract from the Attorney General's review of the commission which concluded that "it is not unreasonable to expect that the number of separate legal representations, by persons appearing before the investigation committee, will be of the magnitude of 10,000".
That conclusion was based on estimated hearings involved in the current 1,712 applications by former residents of the institutions to the committee.
The Attorney General's review noted that the principal sources of legal costs, for which the State would be be liable, included legal representation for the religious congregations who ran the institutions, for those accused of abuse, for the victims' lawyers, for lawyers representing Government Departments, and for lawyers representing the public interest.
Looking at the issue of costs in his review of the commission, Mr Justice Seán Ryan said, of a 2002 estimate by the Department of Education that costs at the investigation committee could be between €150 million and €200 million, that "it is not clear whether this is realistic".
He instanced a case of the total sum claimed by lawyers of parties to a one-day hearing into a single allegation of physical abuse at a national school involving one complainant and one respondent.
"The total sum claimed by legal representatives of the parties to the hearing, not including the costs of representing the State or those of the investigation committee's own lawyers, was €50,000." He warned that that figure be treated with caution as the costs concerned were only those claimed.
"When additions are made for multiple hearings, the overall expenditure would be truly alarming."
He further advised that to suggest that the work of the commission/investigation committee might be completed within 11 years without substantial changes in its procedures "would be optimistic".
The Attorney General, in suggesting the committee be allowed powers of discretion to choose which allegations to hear, argued that though each victim would then lose the right to confront his/her abuser, that loss must be weighed against the benefit accruing from a "more efficient and faster inquiry".