Thursday, 31st May 2018

Note from the Board of Caranua following publication of Review of Eligibility to apply to Caranua by the Department of Education

Following the recently published Review of Eligibility to apply to Caranua, the Board today (Thursday) announced that survivors who may be eligible to apply for funding for services must return their application form to Caranua by Wednesday 1st August 2018 to ensure that their application can be processed. The Board of Caranua have made this decision taking into account the Department’s Review, the expenditure to date and the estimation of future possible expenditure of the limited Fund provided to Caranua to support survivors.

Speaking on the publication of the Review, Chairperson of the Board of Caranua, David O’Callaghan said: “As outlined in the different expenditure scenarios in the Department’s Review, we must work to ensure the remainder of the Fund provided to Caranua supports survivors in the most equitable way possible.

“We will continue to support survivors who have already applied to Caranua and we encourage survivors who may be eligible but have not yet applied to send in their application form by 1st August 2018.  It is vitally important that we re-double our efforts to ensure any survivors who may be eligible come forward and apply to the Fund. We also ask survivor support groups to continue to help us reach survivors who have yet to apply.”

To date, Caranua has been provided with €102.97M of the committed €110M contributions from the religious congregations to support survivors of institutional abuse.

As at 30th April 2018, a total of €80.3 million had been spent, of this €72.5 million has been spent on services for survivors who have applied to Caranua.

Continuing Mr O’Callaghan said “We have been determined to utilise the Fund provided to Caranua to the maximum extent possible to support survivors who are eligible to apply.

“We are very aware that many survivors coming forward need support not only from Caranua, but also from other State agencies. A key challenge for the Board is how we use our limited staff resources to ensure that other State agencies recognise the individual needs of survivors of institutional abuse, and that we help create linkages into State structures that will support survivors in the long term.

“Following previous discussions with the Department in respect of the need for the provision of state supports to survivors, we welcome the announcement that there will be consultations with survivors and an interdepartmental committee convened to examine how existing mainstream state services can best meet the needs of survivors into the future.

“Since the Fund and therefore the lifetime of Caranua is limited, it is crucial that we continue to build strong links with mainstream services and ensure that survivors are linked with them. We will continue to work with relevant statutory bodies, developing partnerships to work towards building awareness of the needs of survivors and helping to improve responses to those needs.

“The Board and staff of Caranua are committed to working to ensure that the remainder of the Fund is distributed as fairly as possible. We look forward to continuing our engagement with survivors through face to face outreach, public meetings, daily phone and email contact and by working with other organisations that support survivors.”

ENDS

Information for Editors:

Further information may be found under the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Caranua website here: https://caranua.ie/faqs/application-deadline-frequently-asked-questions/

The Review of eligibility for access to the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund was an undertaking given by the then Minister for Education and Skills, Mr Ruairí Quinn T.D., during the passage of the legislation through the Houses of the Oireachtas that Caranua was established under, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012.  The text of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act, 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2012/act/35/enacted/en/html  

Caranua (the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund)
Caranua (the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund) is an independent State body, established by the Minister for Education and Skills which operates under the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund (RISF) Act 2012.

To be eligible to apply to Caranua survivors must have received an award through settlement, Court or the Residential Institutions Redress Board in relation to their time in an institution. The institutions were run by religious congregations and funded and regulated by the State. To date, Caranua has been provided with €102.97M of the committed €110M contributions from the religious congregations to support survivors of institutional abuse.

Caranua was established under the RISF Fund Act, 2012 and is responsible for managing these funds to support people who, as children, experienced abuse in institutions in Ireland.  *The legislation that Caranua was established under, the RISF Fund Act, 2012 (Section 30), states that all costs (including postage, printing, telephone costs, utilities, outreach events, staff costings, office accommodation, ICT, external audit, independent Appeal Officers costs etc) must be paid out of the Fund.

Caranua can offer support, information, advice and advocacy to survivors. The help we provide will depend on the needs and circumstances of each survivor but the areas we can help with are:

•           Health and Wellbeing;
•           Housing Support;
•           Education, Learning and Development;
•           Socially Active & Connected.

Working in partnership with public services and adding value to, rather than duplicating the services they provide, is an important element of our legislation and since Caranua was established we have expanded the range of organisations that we have worked with and through.

During the planning stages in 2013 Caranua reviewed available research and individual testimonies from survivors on the effects of institutional abuse. We also consulted with survivors in Ireland and the UK, meeting around 200 individuals concerning their needs and how the Fund should operate, as well as survivor support groups, Irish Welfare and other relevant services. Consultation and attention to feedback has continued to be a cornerstone of our work. We actively encourage applicants to give us feedback, directly and through our website and meetings are held in Ireland and the UK with survivor support groups and other relevant bodies. Our aims and values are designed to inform and underpin all our activities and to ensure that we are as flexible and open as possible in meeting needs of survivors who apply to Caranua.

The first set of approved services and criteria were published in January 2014. Based on feedback received from survivors and other stakeholders these were simplified in May 2014.

The criteria were reviewed again in 2015, taking into account the views and feedback received from applicants, survivor support groups and patterns of expenditure. The key questions were how to make the Fund sustainable and more responsive to the expressed needs and preferences of survivors. It was found that spending on home improvements (i.e. installation of new windows & doors) was very high, that home owners were benefiting disproportionately and that many survivors wanted services that were not currently included. It was clear that if existing patterns of expenditure were to continue that the Fund would not be distributed fairly and would not be available for all the survivors who were eligible to benefit from it. As a result, the Board extended the range of services and a maximum allocation on the value of services that a survivor could receive was introduced. The changes came into effect on 1st June 2016 and applied to all new and reapplications received after that date. The changes were developed in consultation with officials in the Department of Education and Skills and were in keeping with the broad aims of Caranua; the range of services indicated in the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act; and the authority of the Board to determine criteria, and the range of approved services under Section 9 of the RISF Act 2012.

Further information on Caranua, including details on applying for support funding and services, are available here: www.caranua.ie  Further information on the application process can be viewed here https://caranua.ie/how-to-apply 

The Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse dated 20th May 2009 can be viewed via this link:
http://www.childabusecommission.ie/rpt/pdfs/CICA-Executive%20Summary.pdf

Draft Terms of Reference for Review of Eligibility to access funding support from the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund published by the Minister for Education & Skills.
On 15th February 2017 the Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton T.D., announced a three-week consultation period in relation to the proposed draft terms of reference of a review of eligibility to access funding support from Caranua (the Residential institutions Statutory Fund).  The draft terms of reference are available on the Department for Education and Skills website at the following links: https://www.education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2017-Press-Releases/PR2017-15-01.html and http://www.education.ie/en/Learners/Information/Former-Residents-of-Industrial-Schools/Caranua-Review-of-Eligibility-Draft-Terms-of-Reference.pdf

Review of Eligibility of Persons to access the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund (“Caranua”)
The Review of Eligibility of Persons to access the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund (“Caranua”) was published (Tuesday 29th May 2018) and can be viewed on the Department of Education and Skills website here: https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Education-Reports/review-of-eligibility-of-persons-to-access-the-residential-institutions-statutory-fund-caranua.pdf 

The Department of Education and Skills Press Release can also be viewed on their website here: https://www.education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2018-press-releases/PR18-05-29.html