Below are questions asked in the Oireachtas, relating to Caranua and other areas relevant to survivors

Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board

Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of external companies or organisations or bodies that Caranua have engaged for a fee since its inception in tabular form; the fees that these entities have charged; the source the fees were paid from; the justification provided from Caranua for the services of these entities; his views on whether these charges could have been avoided by proper governance of Caranua in view of recent revelations regarding Caranua; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): Caranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board, is an independent statutory body established pursuant to the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012. Section 7(7) of that Act provides that the Board, as it considers necessary for the performance of its functions and with the approval of the Minister, may enter into contracts with persons and engage consultants or advisers under terms and conditions that the Board considers appropriate. Section 7(7) also provides that sums payable to persons, consultants or advisers shall be paid by the Board out of moneys at its disposal.

Details of the contracts and consultancies, etc., approved under section 7(7) since the establishment of the organisation in 2013 are set out in the attached tabular statement. Consideration of the items listed in the following table was undertaken following receipt of business cases from Caranua.

All of Caranua’s costs, including those relating to contracts and consultancies, are charged on the NTMA investment account which is funded by religious contributions. This arises from the provision in section 30(1) of the 2012 Act which states that the “expenses and other costs incurred by the Agency under this Act shall, subject to the approval of the Board, be charged on the investment account to the benefit of the Agency”.

Approvals issued by the Minister for Education and Skills under section 7(7) of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012

Note: Where the box for contractor/consultant is blank it signifies that approval in principle was given by the Minister for Education and Skills for Caranua to commence a procurement process for the particular service.

Residential Institutions Redress Scheme

Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills the oversight his Department currently has in place regarding the operations of Caranua in the absence of a sitting board which has not been in place since March 2017.

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): The term of office of the outgoing members of the Board of Caranua expired on 24 March last. A process to appoint members to the Board, which was managed on my behalf by the Public Appointments Service (PAS), is now nearing a conclusion and I will be making the necessary appointments in the coming days. The outgoing Chairperson, Mr David O’Callaghan has been reappointed as a member of the Board and as Chairperson thus providing a degree of continuity and oversight. The functions assigned to me as Minister for Education and Skills under the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 in relation to Caranua continue to be performed notwithstanding the fact that there are vacancies on the Board.

Schools Property

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett  asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will ensure that the playing fields at a school (details supplied) will not be sold off by the Christian Brothers congregation, thereby depriving the school of the pitches adjacent to its school building; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): In early May, the Christian Brothers congregation wrote to me on the wider issue of the transfer of ownership of its playing fields to the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, ERST.

That recent correspondence also noted the proposal to dispose of part of the lands at the school to which the Deputy refers, a post-primary school under the patronage of ERST, and it states that contracts have already been signed with a builder. The congregation’s letter states that its intention is to use part of the proceeds of the disposal to meet its outstanding contribution of €8.8 million relating to the voluntary offer it made in 2009 in response to the findings of the Ryan report. The congregation also advised me that it will have provided the college with 6.5 acres, inclusive of the school and lands transferred in 2008 and the 3.5 acres of playing grounds now transferring.

I am not privy to the deliberations or the debates within the congregation on why these particular lands were selected for disposal.

As I noted, the congregation has an outstanding redress contribution of €8.8 million. Completion of this contribution at an early date is vital because it will ensure that Caranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund, will have available to it the full €110 million in cash contributions offered by the religious congregations. I appreciate that the Christian Brothers wish to follow through on their commitments, having already paid €21.2 million of their voluntary cash offer.

It would, however, also be very disappointing if the educational needs of the current and future generations of children were compromised in achieving this goal. I would hope that the congregation takes this fully into account during its deliberations.

There is a role for the school patron, ERST, to ensure that the current and potential future educational needs of the school, including the capacity of the school to meet future enrolment demands, are prioritised.

My Department will be writing to the congregation on the matter of the lands adjacent to the school to which the Deputy refers, seeking clarification on a number of points, including whether the land in question is now the subject of a legally-binding agreement with a builder.