Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There are two key areas where we are providing in this year's Estimates for the response and action plan the Government is bringing forward, namely, subhead C9, which I will speak about in a moment, and subhead C8. Subhead C8 makes provision for €9.1 million. The key element of that is meeting the costs of the Tuam agency that is currently being established. The process for appointing the director is taking place at the moment. We hope to be able to announce the appointment of the director in the next few weeks. A total of €7 million is provided for in the Estimates for the work that will start on the Tuam site this year.

The other key element is subhead C9, which is the establishment of the payment scheme. The €10 million provided for in C9 is to deal with the initial establishment costs while the legislation is being passed. While the Dáil and Seanad are working on that legislation, officials in my Department are putting in place the mechanisms which will be needed to run what will be an extremely large scheme. That is taking place now. We are putting in place the ICT infrastructure and the relevant training for staff on some of the issues discussed in the House during the week. As soon as the legislation is passed and we are in a position to start accepting applications and making awards, my Department will seek a Supplementary Estimate from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to ensure we have the adequate financial resources to meet the first year of applications. The interdepartmental group's report set out a number of scenarios to estimate the amount of money we expect to be drawn down from the scheme during the five years. Once the legislation is passed, we will make this new application to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to seek that additional money. As soon as the legislation is passed and as soon as the administrative side is ready, we can start to process the claims and to provide survivors with financial payments and enhanced medical cards.

We have discussed the six-month period previously. We made a determination in the design of this scheme to bring forward a scheme under which former residents would not have to present evidence of abuse or trauma. The best way in which we could reflect people's residence and their experience of being in one of these institutions was in terms of time spent. That can be proved through records that are with my Department which were provided by the commission. Through proof of time spent in the institutions, we can ensure survivors do not have to bring evidence forward or give testimony. We recognise one of the reasons previous redress schemes were heavily criticised was the requirement to provide testimony. People applying under those schemes were asked to give evidence and were cross-examined about their experiences in the institutions. We have brought forward a scheme of payments that recognises time spent in the institution, the harsh conditions in them and the emotional abuse and other forms of trauma that were sustained. The payment increases based on time spent, recognising the impact of the longer stay in those harsh institutional settings. That is the basis on which we brought forward and designed the scheme.