Residential Institutions
Seanad Éireann — 2025-10-14
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Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central

I thank Senator O'Reilly for raising this very important and sensitive matter. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy McEntee, who sends her apologies because she cannot be here.
I assure the Senator that the Government is very conscious of the enormous trauma experienced by all survivors of abuse. She is right that these are vulnerable people. With regard to the group currently engaged in a protest outside Leinster House, the primary concern of the Minister and the Government has been, and at all times is, that they safeguard their physical and mental health by reconsidering their action. These four people should be treated with respect and dignity.
Both the Minister and the Taoiseach have met separately with the group. Officials from the Department of Education and Youth have also been in touch with the group on a number of occasions. The special advocate for survivors, Ms Patricia Carey, has been in ongoing contact. Officials from the Department met with the group in August to listen to their concerns. At all times, they have been respectfully urged to safeguard their health and well-being. It is regrettable that they have chosen to continue their protests. The HSE has arranged for regular welfare and medical checks to be carried out and the Department of Education and Youth has offered to arrange accommodation for the group during the recent severe weather warning.
The Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025 was passed by the Oireachtas in July. The Act was subject to extensive debate, particularly in this House. It gives effect to the Government's decision of June 2023 to provide certain ongoing supports to survivors of abuse in residential institutions such as industrial schools and reformatories, including health, education and advocacy supports. This marks a new phase in the State's response to the issue.
The package of health supports and services provided for in the Act will ensure survivors resident in the State have access to a range of health supports through the HSE, including GP services, home nursing and home helps, chiropody and podiatry, and physiotherapy. This approach is consistent with that taken in respect of survivors and former residents of the Magdalen laundries and mother and baby institutions. The entitlement will be for life and will not be subject to means tests or periodic reviews. Survivors living abroad will be able to avail of a payment of €3,000, in lieu of this package of supports, to support their health needs. This is the same approach taken in respect of the mother and baby institutions.
The Act also provides for the establishment of a scheme involving the payment of cash grants ranging from €500 to €2,000 to survivors who are engaging in further and higher education. This scheme will ensure survivors are not required to pay the student contribution charge where this would otherwise apply.
The focus is now on implementing the legislation and the Government is not in a position to revisit it. I can confirm that officials in the Department are in the process of reviewing the recommendations of the report of the consultative forum again and I understand that, in relation to the recommendations on memorialisation and records, there is scope for further engagement.
It is regrettable that the group has chosen to take this action. I respectfully urge them to reconsider their current action in the interest of their health and to engage with officials to discuss the various matters I have referred to.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-10-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:13+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-14