Hundreds of sexual abuse victims are likely to bypass the Government's redress scheme to pursue their cases in the courts after the High Court awarded €370,000 to a man who was abused at a Kilkenny industrial school, write Arthur Beesley and Liam Reid.
The award to Raymond Noctor (45), of Leinster Crescent, Carlow, was the highest made to a victim of institutional abuse, and was almost €300,000 more than the average award of €77,000 made by the Residential Institutions Redress Board.
Only 12 of the 2,500 awards so far made by the board were in the €200,000 to €300,000 range.
The award to Mr Noctor came as the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts finalised a report, to be published tomorrow, which is likely to criticise the manner in which the Government negotiated the 2002 deal that indemnified religious orders against abuse claims.
The One in Four agency, which helps abuse victims, said the scale of Mr Noctor's award would encourage victims of sexual abuse to go to the High Court instead of the redress board.
The agency's director, Colm O'Gorman, said: "I think what you'll see is that where there's a sense that a case can be taken to the High Court, people will do so rather than going to the redress board.
"What's particularly significant is the level of the damages awarded at €370,000. It's beyond the upper end that could be possibly paid within the redress scheme. But even more significantly, it's massively above and beyond the average awards from that scheme."
Mr Noctor was sent to St Joseph's Industrial School, Kilkenny, over 30 years ago. He gave evidence of being sexually abused by care worker David Murray. He was also beaten by Murray.
Mr Noctor said in a statement that the actions of the State and the Sisters of Charity in trenchantly denying the validity of his claim over many years "heaped insult on top of injury".
The Sisters of Charity said they acknowledged that Mr Noctor was abused by Murray, and were sincerely sorry for the hurt and suffering he endured.
Solicitor Michael Lanigan, a leading representative of abuse victims, said people who suffered sexual abuse in institutions were now likely to consider taking their cases to the High Court if the redress board had not dealt with their cases.
"This case is very significant; the general damages awarded are very high, and include compensation for breach of constitutional rights which cannot be taken into account by the redress board."
Because of the State's indemnity deal with the religious orders, the entire compensation payment and legal costs in any successful High Court cases will have to be met by the State.