A settlement of €150,000 with a man allegedly abused in residential institutions had "very serious implications for the Redress Board", representatives of victims support groups said yesterday.
Mr Tom Sweeney (57), who as a child was in industrial schools at Artane and Galway, was made an initial offer of €113,000 by the Residential Institutions Redress Board, which was reduced to €67,000 when he opted for an oral hearing. On appeal this was adjusted to €73,000.
He undertook a 22-day hunger strike at the Dáil which ended on May 17th after the Government agreed to expedite a High Court case he discontinued in 2000 when advised to go before the Redress Board. In a settlement involving the State and the Christian Brothers, Mr Sweeney has been awarded €150,000 and an apology from the religious.
Mr Colm O'Gorman of the One in Four group said the case illustrated the need for an examination of the workings of the Board. Both Mr John Kelly of Irish Survivors of Child Abuse and Ms Christine Buckley of the Aislinn group felt the case illustrated that the Redress Board was failing victims.
Ms Buckley said "it has very serious implications for the 29 per cent of applicants [to the Board] who had offers reduced when they went for a full hearing". She would be writing to the Taoiseach asking that whatever offer was made to an applicant by the Board should not be reduced if a person opted to tell his story. She said the disparity between awards made by the Board and those made by dioceses was "causing aggravated harm to survivors".
There was also disparity in offers by the Board to victims with similar institutional experiences, she said, and spoke of three members of one such family. One opted for a full hearing and was awarded €70,000 less that her two siblings.
Mr O'Gorman said the legal implications of Mr Sweeney's settlement would become clearer in coming weeks but it highlighted suggestions that there were difficulties with how the Board arrived at awards. People opting for an oral hearing "felt they were being punished".
Sources pointed out last night that none of the six Christian Brothers facing sex abuse charges concerning St Joseph's industrial school, Galway, were there when Mr Sweeney was at the institution. He referred to the six Brothers in television and radio interviews yesterday.