On paper, the task facing Mr Justice Michael MacGrath, as chair of the Commission of Investigation into the Handling of Child Sexual Abuse in Schools, seems impossible. That he is expected to complete its report within five years appears even more so.
A comparable inquiry would be the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, which investigated abuses in residential institutions for children. It published its 2,600-page report in 2009, nine years after being set up.
The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation was established in 2015 to investigate the treatment of women and children in such institutions. It was five years later, in 2020, when its 3,000-page report was presented to government. Both those commissions operated on a similar sampling basis as is to be employed by the new commission.
The judge’s work will be assisted by the new commission being allowed to take into account “the extent of concerns of child sexual abuse established by previous investigations” including the scoping inquiry into historical sexual abuse in schools run by religious orders, which called for the establishment of the commission. As this inquiry also recommended, the commission will extend its work to allegations relating to all types of schools.
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The new commission will also have the discretion to reduce the time period under investigation as considered appropriate, taking into account in particular the barriers to investigating older allegations. This should help to limit the task it faces.
It is welcome that the terms of reference for the new commission “shall strive to be as survivor-centred as possible.” Its survivor engagement programme will provide “a non-adversarial setting” for survivors, or relatives of deceased survivors, to tell their story with identities protected.
This is similar to the role of confidential committees at the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation. And, as with those, the new commission “may” have regard to the work of the survivor engagement programme. Or it may not, as claimed by critics of previous commissions, who said that this survivor testimony was not allowed adequate weight in findings made.
The commission’s terms of reference include a wise direction that on or before July 2027 it will write to the Minister for Education and Youth to confirm whether it will be in a position to report by July 2030, as currently required, or propose changes to its terms of reference which will make that possible. Commitments to secure funding for redress schemes from those responsible for sexual abuse in schools are also welcome.
Previous experience would suggest, however, that securing this will be no easy task.
