News & Events

Parliamentary Questions – 30th May 2017

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

Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board

Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the details of contracts he or his predecessors have received for ministerial approval from Caranua; and if in each case, it has been approved.

Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to contracts that Caranua has entered into that Caranua has not referred to him or his predecessors for approval.

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 tabular statement that follows.

Consideration of the items listed in the tabular statement was undertaken following receipt of business cases from Caranua. Ministerial approval was not granted in respect of one request submitted by Caranua, the details of that case are included in the tabular statement.

I am not aware of any instances of contracts being entered into by Caranua without the knowledge and approval of my Department.

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

Date

Contractor/Consultant

Purpose

02/04/2014

Exchequer Software Ltd.

Acquisition of Financial Management System

15/6/2014 26/9/2014 15/10/2014 11/8/2015

CPL Recruitment

Provision of agency staff

17/09/2014

Entering into a proposed lease on new accommodation including engagement of architectural firm.  (Note: project was not proceeded with.)

21/10/2014

Approval to seek tenders to undertake a review of Caranua’s structures, processes and systems

11/08/2015

Achilles

Provision of advice and support in procurement

11/08/2015

Acumen

Preparation of Board handbook

11/08/2015

Acumen

Set up of case management system

11/08/2015

Ampersand

Facilitation of session of Board

11/08/2015

Ampersand

Facilitation of Board meeting

11/08/2015

Ampersand

Facilitation of management team for staff meeting

11/08/2015

An Post Mails Revenue

PO Box Licence and Freepost Licences

11/08/2015

Anna Carroll

Training for staff member

11/08/2015

Athena Media

Historical research

11/08/2015

Athena Media

Communications strategy

11/08/2015

Beverly Smith & Sons

Furniture removal

11/08/2015

Bill Moss & Partners

Addresses of parish priests for mailshot.

11/08/2015

Blacknight Internet

Hosting of website

11/08/2015

Bluewave Technologies

Further development of Salesforce CRM System

11/08/2015

Brendan Foreman Design

Design of new corporate identity.

11/08/2015

Brendan Foreman Design

Branded stationery

11/08/2015

Brendan Foreman Design

Design and development of new temporary website

11/08/2015

Brendan Foreman Design

Design of Application Form Pt 1 and guidelines

11/08/2015

Brendan Foreman Design

Design of Application Form Pt 2 and Guidelines 2nd Edition

11/08/2015

Brendan Foreman Design

Sub-contracting of printing of applications and guidelines

11/08/2015

Byrne Wallace Solicitors

Legal advice

11/08/2015

Brian Harvey

Summary of Oireachtas debates

11/08/2015

BT Communications Ireland Ltd

Computer hardware & software

11/08/2015

Caroline O’Leary

Irish Sign Language interpretation

11/08/2015

Carlin Marketing

Working with subcommittee on rebranding

11/08/2015

Carlin Marketing

Drafting rationale for rebranding

11/08/2015

Cathleen Anne Ronayne

Assist with payroll calculations

11/08/2015

Character Print Solutions

Print and distribute copies of Application Form Pt 1 & Guidelines

11/08/2015

Character Print Solutions

Printing of letterheads etc.

11/08/2015

Ciara Murray

Examine the implications of working through delivery partners

11/08/2015

Codex

Provision of stationery supplies

11/08/2015

CPL Admin

11/08/2015

Crowleys DFK

EFB Audit

11/08/2015

Datapac

ICT equipment (laptops, printers)

11/08/2015

David Palmer Enterprises

Moving of office furniture

11/08/2015

Dreamhost

Hosts emails and website

11/08/2015

Dublin Rape Crisis Centre

Training course

11/08/2015

Eircom

Provision of telephone services

11/08/2015

Eircom Business Systems

New phone management system

11/08/2015

Emobile

Provision of 6 mobile phones

11/08/2015

FEXCO

Foreign payments and anonymised cheque payments

11/08/2015

Focus Training

Staff training

11/08/2015

Focused Solutions

Support to admin staff

11/08/2015

Fruit Design

Design of Online Application Form Part 1

11/08/2015

Fruit Design

Website design

11/08/2015

Graphite HRM

HR support

11/08/2015

Harcourt Printing

Stationery supplies

11/08/2015

Hyperlink Ltd

Placing of invitation to tender for baseline study on Activelink website

11/08/2015

Inform Display Systems

Distribution of Application Form Pt 1 to health service

11/08/2015

Iron Mountain

Confidential document destruction

11/08/2015

Ita Mangan

Research on entitlements.

11/08/2015

Joan O’Flynn

Facilitation session

11/08/2015

Jury’s Inn

Accommodation for Board members

11/08/2015

Jury’s Inn

Use of meeting rooms

11/08/2015

Kent Carthy Solicitors

Legal advice

11/08/2015

Liz Challoner

Acceptable behaviour policy

11/08/2015

Ms Liz Challoner

Admin support

11/08/2015

Ms Liz Challoner

Admin support

11/08/2015

Maureen Lynott

Design of criteria

11/08/2015

Micromail

Microsoft licences

11/08/2015

MJ Flood

Provision of a photocopier

11/08/2015

NALA

“Plain English” of forms and other documentation

11/08/2015

National Radio Cabs

Provision of Taxi services

11/08/2015

Novosco

New server and ongoing ICT support.

11/08/2015

Novosco

Urgent work on email system

11/08/2015

Office Depot (Ireland) Ltd

Paper for printing

11/08/2015

Pitney Bowes Purchase Power

Postage costs (franking machine)

11/08/2015

Pony Express

Courier services

11/08/2015

Q4 Public Relations

Advice on wording of letter

11/08/2015

Q4 Public Relations

Design and content for website

11/08/2015

Q4 Public Relations

Updating website

11/08/2015

Regent Catering

Provision of lunch etc for Board meetings

11/08/2015

Salesforce

Provision of licences for use of salesforce

11/08/2015

Salespulse

Maintenance support for data base

11/08/2015

Shred-It

Secure destruction of paper

11/08/2015

Silverlink

Design of temporary website.

11/08/2015

Snap Printing

Printing of guidelines

11/08/2015

Softex

Support for phone management software

11/08/2015

Irish Post

Annual sub.

11/08/2015

Temporary Information Officers

11/08/2015

Treacy Consulting

Research project – service pathways.

11/08/2015

Unity

Provision of ICT support

11/08/2015

Unity

Provision of new firewall

11/08/2015

Viking Direct

Provision of stationery supplies

11/08/2015

Wateross Management Ltd

Advice on development & implementation of scheme.

11/08/2015

Weafer & Associates Research & Consultancy Ltd

Baseline awareness study

27/08/2015

Approval to seek tenders for the procurement of internal audit services

27/08/2015

Approval to seek tenders for the procurement of accountancy services

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.

Requests for approvals refused by the Minister for Education and Skills under section 7(7) of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012

11/08/2015

Geraldine Prizeman

Clean up of data.

Residential Institutions Statutory Fund

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which the Christian Brothers are to pay their outstanding debts to the redress scheme: if there is a requirement for them to pay in cash or if land transfers would be acceptable, particularly in cases in which doing so would safeguard a school and its facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the fact that the Christian Bothers intend to pay the full amount of their debt to the redress scheme at the expense of a school (details supplied) in County Dublin by selling off the school’s playing fields; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which the Christian Brothers are to pay their outstanding debts to the redress scheme; if there is a requirement for them to pay in cash or if land transfers would be acceptable, particularly in cases in which doing so would safeguard a school and its facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Skills if an agreement was made by the Christian Brothers to ensure the use of the playing fields attached to a college (details supplied) would be used by the college and its pupils as long as it was in existence; if the Christian Brothers move to sell the playing fields to a property developer represents a breach of that agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): I propose to take Questions Nos. 163 and 173 to 175, inclusive, together.

In the aftermath of the publication, in May 2009, of the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (the “Ryan Report”) many of the religious congregations that managed institutions in which abuse took place offered additional voluntary contributions towards the cost of the State’s response to that abuse which is now expected to reach some €1.5 billion.

The response of the Congregation of Christian Brothers was to voluntarily offer an additional cash contribution of €30 million for the proposed fund for former residents, a contribution of €4 million for counselling and the transfer of its portfolio of 49 school playing fields and associated lands to a new independent trust involving the State and the Edmund Rice Schools Trust to which the playing fields are licensed.

The Government subsequently decided that the €4 million in counselling would not be reckoned as a contribution. The proposal to transfer the playing fields was the subject of discussion between the Congregation and previous ministers. Counter proposals were put to the Congregation regarding future ownership of the fields but these were not accepted. The Congregation has recently written to me indicating its willingness to engage further with my Department on how the transfer could proceed and be reckoned as a redress contribution.

To date the Congregation has paid €21.2 million of its pledged cash contribution and has indicated that it intends to pay the remaining €8.8 million either later this year or in 2018. Completion of this contribution is vitally important as it will help to ensure that Caranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund, will have the full €110 million in cash contributions offered by the religious congregations available to it. This will enable Caranua to provide much needed supports to former residents who are in need of assistance.

I appreciate that the Christian Brothers wish to follow through on their commitments. It is however, a matter for the Congregation to make its own decisions in regard to how it will fund the remaining element of its pledged cash contribution and I have no role in that process.  It would, however, also be very disappointing if the educational needs of current and future generations of children were compromised in achieving this goal. I would hope that the Congregation takes this fully into account during their deliberations.  My Department is writing to the Congregation on the matter of the proposed sale of land adjacent to the school referred to by the Deputy, seeking clarification on a number of relevant matters including the current status of the proposed sale and whether consideration was given to future educational needs prior to the decision being taken to dispose of the land.

I am not privy to any agreement that may have been made between the Congregation of Christian Brothers, the Edmund Rice Schools Trust and the authorities of any particular school in regard to school playing fields. I should note also that there is no agreement in place between my Department and the Congregation in regard to the transfer of its playing fields and associated lands to any new ownership structure.