The role of the courts and the judiciary in the placement of children into circumstances where they could have been abused will be included in the work of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the Minister for Education has said - the cost of the commission is now expected to reach €100 million.
However, Mary Hanafin said the part played by individual judges would not be investigated, partly because this could raise issues regarding the separation of powers under the Constitution.
Ms Hanafin said she understood Mr Justice Seán Ryan, who heads the commission, was satisfied that the wording in the proposed legislation would allow him to investigate all the circumstances surrounding the placement of children in institutions.
As a result, she opposed two amendments put forward by committee members, which called for the commission to examine specifically the role of those in authority, including judges, the courts and the executive arm of government.
Ms Hanafin was addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science yesterday on the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Amendment) Bill 2005. This will see the commission granted an extra three years to finish its investigation by 2008. All 1,300 people who have applied to have their cases heard before its investigative committee will be invited for interview, but only a sample of these cases will go forward to full hearings to "speed up" the process.
Ms Hanafin said her department now estimated €100 million would be spent on the work of the commission during its term of office. Of this, €69 million would be spent on legal fees, with the remainder accounted for by administrative costs.
This represents approximately half the estimated original cost if the proposed changes were not introduced. Originally, the commission's final report was unlikely to have been published until 2011. Ms Hanafin also said any day school students who had applied to the commission would be invited for interview. This includes primary students, but the closing date for such applications was July 2002.
She also expressed confidence that the proposed changes to the work of the commission would enable a comprehensive picture to emerge, despite the proposed "sampling" of individuals.
Mr Justice Ryan was of the opinion that the commission should focus on the wrongs within the system which led to abuse, but she said its work should not be turned into a "mini-trial" of individuals. Such cases were best left to criminal trials, she added.
Despite strong criticism from several members of the committee, Ms Hanafin said she would not be supporting moves to publish the criteria for selecting individuals for a full hearing.