Below are questions asked by TDs in Dáil Éireann, relating to Caranua and other areas relevant to survivors

An Grianán to be included in Redress Board

Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the request for An Grianán to be included in the redress board; and if she will make a statement on the matter. 

Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality (Deputy Frances Fitzgerald): An Grianán Training Centre is among the 130 institutions listed in the Schedule to the Residential Institutions Redress Act, 2002 and was therefore covered by the Residential Institutions Redress Board Scheme operated by the Department of Education and Skills. It is assumed that the Deputy is enquiring as to whether An Grianán is also covered by the Magdalen Laundries Restorative Justice Ex Gratia Scheme under the remit of my Department.

The Magdalen Scheme is limited to 12 named institutions – the 10 Magdalen laundries that were the subject of the McAleese Report as well as the Domestic Training Schools at Stanhope Street and Summerhill. An Grianán is not one of those 12 named institutions. Although An Grianán was located on the same complex as the Magdalen Laundry in High Park, it was a separate institution in its own right. Its function was to rehabilitate teenage girls and provide education to prepare them for reintegration into society. It thus served a different purpose to that of the traditional Magdalen institutions which dated back to the 19th century and which were open to women of all ages. An Grianán Training Centre, officially established in 1971, had a separate legal status as a certified place of detention and an approved residential children’s home.

Aside from An Grianán’s own separate legal status and its different function to that of a Magdalen laundry, it should be further noted that the terms of the Magdalen Laundries Restorative Justice Ex Gratia Scheme specifically exclude institutions that are covered by the Residential Institutions Redress Board Scheme. This is to prevent a situation arising where an individual could receive compensation under two separate schemes for the same period of time spent in one institution.