Religious orders to pay compensation

Religious orders who ran the State's industrial schools in the early and mid-1900s, yesterday agreed in principle to participate in a compensation scheme which may cost up to £100 million.

The compensation is to be paid to people who suffered abuse while in residential care as children. It is the first time that the religious orders have agreed to take part in a formal State-administered scheme, although some orders have made private and court-imposed settlements with victims of abuse.

Yesterday's agreement between the Minister for Education and the religious orders means the orders will now bear at least some of the cost of the awards. However, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education was last night unable to clarify the details of the orders' "participation".

A statement from the Department said the Minister would "enter into formal discussions on the details of participation in a compensation scheme with a view to reaching an agreement as soon as possible".

Compensation was seen as an essential part of the Laffoy Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse by abuse survivors and their solicitors. Earlier this year an ad-hoc group of solicitors warned of an effective boycott of the commission until their clients' demands for compensation were addressed.

It is understood that about 1,000 victims have requested representation at the commission while 750 have initiated High Court action. Legal sources estimate that the awards are likely to range from between £5,000 to £30,000 for victims of physical abuse to more than £100,000 for exceptional cases of severe physical and mental trauma.

The compensation scheme has been criticised by some solicitors at the commission for its limitation to those who were boarders. Mr James MacGill has described the decision to exclude day pupils as "mean-spirited".

Since the 1930s about 20,000 children passed through industrial and reformatory schools. Allegations of routine abuse in the institutions were made in the RTE programme States of Fear which gave rise to widespread public concern. Earlier this year it emerged that some children had also been the subject of medical trials more than 30 years ago.