Schools abuse: More time requested for scoping inquiry as impact on survivors is ‘far greater than anticipated’

The scoping inquiry into abuse at all day and boarding schools run by religious orders has requested an extension to June 7th 2024, due to volume of work. It was to make recommendations to Government on what form of statutory investigation should take place into the schools by November 7th next.

Writing to survivors, chair of the scoping inquiry, senior counsel Mary O’Toole, said “the volume and nature of the information that we have gathered to date is such that we have concluded that additional time is required.”

It was why they had written to Minister for Education Norma Foley requesting “an extension to the deadline for the submission of the Report of the Scoping Inquiry to 7th June 2024,” she said.

“We are sorry for the disappointment and frustration that this may cause for many survivors. We are acutely conscious that survivors have told us that the recommendations to Government should take account of the advancing age of many participants” but it was “clear to us that we cannot do justice to the information we have sought and gathered without the need for additional time to collect material, analyse and process what we have been told,” she said.

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Information from survivors “about their experiences of abuse, the impact it has had on their lives and their views on what the Government response to this should be, has been far greater than we anticipated.”

The Inquiry team had been engaging with a “significant” number of relevant religious orders and was working with Government departments, An Garda Síochána and Tusla “to build a sense of the scale of historical sexual abuse, reported to them, in day and boarding schools run by religious orders.”

It had also commissioned various expert reports, while “examining the methods and outcomes of previous inquiries and investigations into historical sexual abuse in Ireland and internationally.”

All of this meant that “the volume of such processes is significant and there is much to learn from the experiences related by survivors who have engaged in those processes.”

It was the case too that “for some survivors, this is the first time that they have spoken of what happened to them. It is important that people have enough time and space to say what they want the scoping inquiry to hear.” The inquiry team felt “very strongly that it is vital that this information is given the fullest of time and attention for analysis.”