Dear Survivors,

Caranua is closing for the Christmas holidays on Monday 23rd December 2019 and will reopen on January 2nd 2020.

In 2019, I was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Caranua, and I am very proud of the work we have done in the past 12 months. During this time the Caranua team has supported 2,394 Survivors to complete their applications and our Advisors met with 127 Survivors to give them one-to-one support with their applications.

We provided extensive outreach services this year with events in London, Birmingham and throughout Ireland. We also provided a special focus on Survivors with barriers to engaging with Caranua such as the Deaf community and Survivors in prison, Caranua Advisors visited Survivors in five Irish prisons to carry out assessments and assist with the application process. 

We worked with Survivors and Survivors support groups to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the State Apology and the 10th Anniversary of the Ryan report, and we received the final transfer of the pledged contributions from the religious congregations which means that the full €110 million has been received.

In 2020 Caranua will continue to work in support of Survivors until the remainder of the Fund has been distributed.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a peaceful and Happy Christmas and my sincere best wishes for the coming year.

Regards,

Rachel Downes

Chief Executive Officer