Press release
Press Statement from the Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Day and Boarding Schools Run by Religious Orders
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Published on
Last updated on
The Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Day and Boarding Schools run by Religious Orders was established on 7 March 2023 in response to revelations of historical child sexual abuse in such schools. The independent Lead, Mary O’Toole SC was requested to report to the Minister for Education by 7 November 2023. The purpose of the report is to:
The Scoping Inquiry has been progressing across multiple workstreams since its inception. Central to this is a survivor engagement process and the team has had very good levels of engagement from survivors who have registered their interest in participating. Survivors who registered their interest were invited to complete questionnaires in the first instance to allow the team to build a picture of the nature and extent of the abuse that participants experienced. Participants were then given the option of an individual interview with a trauma-informed facilitator or making a written submission.
The amount of information that survivors have given to the Scoping Inquiry about their experiences of abuse, its impact on their lives and their views on what the government should do next has been significant. Interviews are ongoing with survivors who had registered their interest in the process. The Scoping Inquiry is sincerely grateful to all participants for their willingness to share their views and experiences with the team.
We are especially conscious that this is the first time for some survivors to have spoken of what happened to them. It is important that people have enough time and space to say what they want the Scoping Inquiry to hear. This has meant that the process is taking longer than we had anticipated, and the amount of deeply personal stories and views that we have gathered is significant.
The Scoping Inquiry is also working to establish the likely scale of historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders and has been identifying and engaging with orders who run schools or who did so in the past. There were a significant number of relevant orders to contact in this regard. This engagement is ongoing. The Scoping Inquiry has also been working with agencies such as An Garda Síochána and Tusla, and relevant government departments to try to establish the scale of historical sexual abuse reported to them in day and boarding schools run by religious orders. Information is still being gathered from the religious orders, agencies and departments.
The Scoping Inquiry is also tasked with engaging with the religious orders to establish the level and extent of co-operation any proposed inquiry. This process is also ongoing. A number of expert reports have been commissioned by the Scoping Inquiry, including an account of child protection systems and frameworks, and an analysis of restorative justice and other approaches to dealing with historical sexual abuse. The team has also been examining the outcomes and methods of previous inquiries into historical sexual abuse, and the experiences of survivors who engaged in those processes. All of this work has taken longer than anticipated to establish and progress. It is of great importance to the Scoping Inquiry that there is sufficient time to properly complete, consider and analyse these aspects of its work.
The Scoping Inquiry team is required to pay particular attention to the views of survivors and it is vital that those who have come forward to participate in the survivor engagement process have adequate time and space to do so, and that they are heard in a respectful and sensitive manner. The Scoping Inquiry team feels very strongly that the deeply personal accounts and views shared with us must be given the fullest of time and attention for professional consideration and analysis. The extension is likely to be disappointing or frustrating for survivors, as many of the participants have already waited a long time to speak about what has happened to them. It is clear that the Scoping Inquiry cannot do justice to the information that has been gathered without this additional time to collect and analyse these accounts.
The Lead of the Scoping Inquiry, Mary O’Toole SC, has written to the Minister for Education to seek an extension to the deadline for submission of the Report of the Scoping Inquiry and the Minister has acceded to the request. It is evident at this point that additional time will be needed to fully meet the Terms of Reference set down for the report and the submission date is now 7 June 2024. Various factors as outlined have contributed to the Scoping Inquiry’s determination that this additional time is required.
The Scoping Inquiry team is committed to a thorough consideration of all issues with a view to providing a fully rounded report under our Terms of Reference. The volume and nature of the information that we have gathered to date requires additional time to account for the key questions. The team has notified participants in the current stage of the survivor engagement process of the developments in the Scoping Inquiry’s work and the need for an extension to the deadline. The Scoping Inquiry team would like to express sincere gratitude to every person who has come forward to speak to us in any way.