Compensating the victims of child abuse in residential institutions could cost an estimated €1.16 billion, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin told the Dáil.
Ms Hanafin said, however, that the revised estimate, like earlier estimates, was tentative as the Residential Institutions Redress Board had some 7,250 outstanding applications to process at the end of last year, and the level of awards in those remaining cases could vary substantially. "The final cost of the scheme will not be known until the board has completed its work, which may take up to a further three years."
Ms Hanafin said that expenditure associated with the redress board, to the end of last year, was approximately €564 million. At that time, 7,290 applications, out of a total of 14,540 received, were processed by the board.
She added that the average award to date was approximately €70,000, with awards ranging up to €300,000. At this point, it was estimated that a provision of another €600 million might be required to meet the board's remaining awards, administration and legal costs.
Ms Hanafin said that the Comptroller and Auditor General had stated that any estimate of the ultimate liability, arising from the redress scheme, was based on assumptions which were impossible to validate and should, therefore, be treated with caution.
The final cost of the scheme, said Ms Hanafin, must be viewed in the context of the Government's acceptance of its responsibilities in apologising to victims of abuse and the substantial costs that would have been incurred had no such scheme been established, with cases processed in the normal manner through the courts.
"The scheme enables victims to obtain compensation for their injuries without having to face the trauma of pursuing their cases in court," Ms Hanafin said.
Labour's spokeswoman on education Jan O'Sullivan asked if the Minister believed the Government had been wrong to impose a cap on the responsibility of the religious orders, given the hugely escalated costs involved.
Ms Hanafin insisted that the State had a duty to make amends for the abuse of children placed in institutions.
"The State was involved in placing those children in institutions and, obviously, had a responsibility to make amends.
"Nonetheless, it was considered that the congregations should make a contribution towards that."
