By Eilish O’Regan Health Correspondent
Saturday February 20 2010
VICTIMS of institutional sex abuse who seek compensation through the State’s redress board are receiving an average of €63,210, new figures reveal.
The Residential Institutions Redress Board has so far processed 13,743 claims from victims of institutional abuse.
A total of 10,188 offers have been made following settlement talks, with another 2,741 made following hearings and 814 withdrawn, refused or given no award.
However, the level of the awards was severely criticised by abuse survivor and ‘God Squad’ author Paddy Doyle, who yesterday said they fell far short of the sums granted in the courts. He said the court awards were nearer €350,000 and victims had been rushed into accepting the redress board.
Mr Doyle, who was speaking at a press conference in Dublin organised by Survivors of Symphysiotomoy, warned against being too quick to accept a similar compensation route if they were offered it.
As a child he was sent to an industrial school in Cappoquin, Co waterford, and suffered abuse that left him in a wheelchair.
Criticised
He also criticised the fact that victims who went before the redress board could not bring anyone with them to the hearing or talk about the award afterwards. To do so would risk fines of up to €25,000 and jail.
In its latest bulletin, the redress board said the highest award so far had been €300,000. It has paid out €148.5m in legal costs .
Of the 14,667 applications it received, 11 were rejected and 814 were withdrawn, refused or given no award.
In a breakdown of awards the bulletin said that 29 were between €200,000 and €300,000; 209 ranged between €150,000 and €200,000 and 1,717 of the payouts were between €100,00 to €150,000.
Nearly half — 6,407 — of the awards were between €50,000 to €100,000. Another 4,567 awards were under €50,000.
An applicant who wanted to lodge an application after December 15, 2005, had to explain in writing to the board why the application had not been lodged on time.
It said it considered each submission individually and by December 15 last, it had received 647 submissions that had been dealt with.
The final bill for the board is expected to be around €1.1bn.
It recently emerged that the board had so far spent more than €900,000 on travel, hotel bills, taxi fares and courier costs.
– Eilish O’Regan Health Correspondent
Irish Independent
I am 48 years of age, my life has been that of misery addiction depression low self esteem feeling worthless engaging in dangerous behaviours, I have been diagnosed with adult ADHD depression high blood pressure, suicidal tendencies that I thought was normal and every one had them.
Been in Rehab spent time in physchiatrc hospitals, have had to lie on application forms, left school at 14 years of age and started working in a pub, not one person checked on where I was or why I wasn’t attending school, 5th class destroyed me the abuse in that class was disgusting and for children to suffer that when they are in school or anywhere is disgusting, I am so angry one minute I was in one teachers class in 5th class with a new teacher the next I was in another class away from the main class rooms, handpicked children to attend this class why is the question I want answered Why ? Will I ever get the answers I saw no abues at home but what went on in school was hell, the problem I have is that it was just a national school ran by Christian brothers every Sunday I would start shaking and feel ill.
I don’t know where to turn who to complain I am also epileptic was this from being hit across the head I suffered a perforated ear drum. When I decided to start contacting people regarding this abuse I was telling my wife she new I was upset and angry she said come and sit down you look unwell and pale the next thing I was waking up on the floor, I am in the process off writing a book, IRISH EDUCATIION DESTROYED ME.
If anyone can give me advice or guidance I would be grateful.
Many thanks
Jon
can anyone help me.i got 34…,,,,,i was low and and drurgs.i seen no docter or nothing.can i appeal.help
I agree with you mary,and i would like to thank Paddy Doyle for his brave work in all this, i was with the redress board and they didnt even want to meet with me, they made me an offer and sent me on my way. I took it soley because by this time i was emotionally wore down and it brought back too many memories, between doctors and what nots. I suffer with an eating disorder to this very day and personality disorders among many other things, what the redress board gave me was an insult and im sure i speak for all the viticms, Audrey
I agree with everything that has been written
about the Redress Board, and all the goings on with Solicitors, Even though I had a very
small pay-out, it was nothing like the amount
of 63,000,thousend Euro’s, that everyone seems to think we received, I felt coherst
into accepting the amount that was first offered to me, needless to say I was very disappointed and did’nt feel compensated,
Goldenbridge 1952 ish , Can anyone tell us what happened to Baby EDNA ??or Bill ?he was a tiny baby when he was detained in Goldenbridge I believe he was then Sent on to Artane aged about SIX I dread to think what he was put through, +my heart aches at the awful thought about the little Baby’s and very young Boys who were sentenced to detention and locked up in Reformatories out in the countryside ,on reaching 6- to 10 years old then Sent on to Places like ARTANE those poor little boys ,were savaged, flogged often Naked,,Raped ,tortured ,Starved,how they could have survived would only be some kind of Miracle ,That would cause horrific nightmares for the rest of the Boy,s life ,It is time What those little Boys suffered was brought to the fore ,AFTER ALL THEY WERE FORCED TO LIVE WITH RAPIST’S ABUSER’S SADIST’S 24HOURS A DAY FOR ALL THEIR CHILDHOODS,With No Mammy and Daddy to go Home to.Does anyone know How they are all NOW.???Has anyone ASKED?????the names are there so it is not rocket science to find out , These are the ones that should matter most and be given the best Help and Compensation possible. I know what I am Talking about. As for Us who were Sentenced to detention by the courts as Very young children into Goldenbridge Reformatory and thus given a criminal Records as Babies must be separately compensated , We ALL were sexually ,Psysically, psychologically Abused.I Would say to any survivors do NOT go to the REDRESS BOARD, GO TO THE HIGH COURT <OR EUROPIAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS.There are Solicitors who would be ready to take your case on for you.We don’t know until we TRY.
Let Ireland remember when her Faithless Sons and Daughters Betrayed her 116,000 Irish children when the church wore the collar of Evil which maimed us from the start ,by condemning us to a chilling cold dark world They Were Fool’s they wanted and dreamt of having the one thing that could never be theirs ,They tried starvation, Battery, Flogging, Rape of our Minds and bodies, stabs Kicks foaming at the mouth with Vampire Lust for Violence , But they didn’t succeed in destroying our Spirit somehow we survived (Though Not all)to tell the world how they enslaved us, destroyed our families forever, stole our siblings our Land our Roots, they even stole our names and our God Given Right To a Childhood. They Gave us FEAR so Great that we children forgot we once had a Mother and a Father.
I was told by a certain person in Dublin that I had to go to the redress board by a certain date that I was told to otherwise I would not get a second chance also this person told me to go and see a certain solicitor who was taken on the cases in Dublin,(I dont live anywhere near Dublin)I was given the impression ,that was it ,no other advice at all ,And No Choice.I did ask if it was possible for me to go to court but told NO as it would cost a fortune and might take many yesrs,and I might loose the case and have huge dept to pay so as I didn’t have that kind of money That was it a few years on I felt strongly the solicitors were not working in my best interest ,they were not interested in getting my medical records ,either from the time The nuns put me in hospital as a child ,or in my adult life when I had to see a psychiatrist and was being treated by the mental health,I tried to change my solicitor but they would not let me,the new one tried to get my file ,they would NOT pass it on,I went alone to the redress board as I was told I could not bring anyone with me I was terrified ,I went into the room with the solicitor just as I was sitting down he looked at me and said be careful because they have your EXAM paper,my mind was racing trying to think what EXAM,the only exam (it was a domestic exam )someone came to inspect our work we children has spent a month scrubbing cleaning ,making beds,polishing floors and furnature,laundry work,sewing ,and basic cooking ie Soup and rock cakes)all that was (3 ozs flour 2 and half ozs margarine and a pinch of salt )I had spent a week training to write that down)for the examiner,who I believe was from the dept of educ we only had this lession for one month for the exam ,no more cooking after the examiner went,that was it,which went up to the convent anyway we couldn’t have any of it,some of us were in domestic training to be sent out to work in big houses as slaves,one of our lessons was >to go outside the room and knock three times so that when the lady or gentleman or priests or nuns of the house said come in we must be totally silent and Never attempt to talk ,we had to do this shit over and over again,,This domestic work we did everyday anyway,another time we were tested was a bit of a religious test ,the priest came and asked us questions about the mass ie say)the Hail Mary),say the our Father,how many stations of the cross are there,That was it,So in the redress board i had the solicitors words ringing in my ears ,the person looked at me and said YOU DID AN EXAM <I was thinking of the ABOVE,I couldn't have a say besids I was really scared and feeling Claustrophobic which I suffer from and feeling sick and worried I had a terrible feeling they were going to lock me in and send me off somewhere to be locked up ,I was also frightened of having a Panic attack,which I also suffer from, I also had just had a operation in hospital.And was not well, As I was alone in Dublin and knew I'd be alone after it was over,Terrible fearful memories came flooding into my mind I could hear children screaming from the pain of been beaten ,crying silently from hunger,from the freezing cold which made the beatings hurt much more ,I could smell the blood and urine,I could see ashen shakeing small children terrified because they wet the bed and were waiting to be flogged for that,I could see the girl who had been burned in the kitchen covered in bandages which stuck to the puss because she cried from the pain she was beaten in front of me and locked in the cupboard,I could see us children ashen faced shivering on the landing waiting to be flogged sometimes we had to wait well into late night ,trying to keep each other awake for fear if caught sleeping you were woken with a hard beaten out of your sleep,I saw I saw the angel staircase ,<we called it I wont say what we saw but lots of us saw it,I saw our heads been roughly pulled back as we sat silently making the rosary beads which hurt and could have broken our necks,I could smell and taste my own blood,my mind began to fill with terror So I kept sucking my mints like a lunitic and worked hard not to freek out I was to frightened to do even that out of fear at whey would do to me .when I left the building.I dont think I heard the solicitor say a word until the end when he said I basically got nothing for lack of education,I had brought 10 packs of extra strong mints with me so I could breath,thank god for mints,how come he didn't hear us children beging him to come and get us ,I ended up hating him and jesus a punishment was to do 20 stations of the cross and the nun would point to jesus on the cross and say in a agressive mannor YOU put him there.My Heart goes out to all survivors we all know the terrible things that we had to go through as Children.I actually have a pain in my chest thinking of the little boys what they were put through,in Industrial Hell Holes. THEY SHOULD BE GIVEN A MILLION EACH Without Question.
Seanie Morrison wrote:- ” did Jesus really mean it when he said, Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto me,?”
Dear Seanie,
It doesn’t matter whether Jesus lived or died or what he said. If the story about him is true, then he was literally crucified to death for angrily confronting the Roman Status Quo of his time.
What matters is what we as individuals do (not what we say) to diminish the power of the Status Quo which dominates our western culture (particularly so in Ireland) and which just happens to be the the same RC political system of JC’s time.
Stand up for your rights – beginning with yourself as an individual – that’s my philosophy.
Dear MARY WARD,
I have just read your sad and horrowing post. I feel so sorry for you, but – know this: if you, or anyone else, expects to get justice from the Irish government, you can expect to wait a very long time for that to happen. They (our so-called leaders) are every bit as sociopathic as our previous political leaders. Why? Because their mentality was moulded and shaped by the Catholic Church, ie., Rome.
So, your praises of Focus Ireland, the official organisation of the Homeless in Ireland, headed by one Sr. Stanilaus Kennedy, is but another one of our many two-faced “social” and “charitable” organisations here in Ireland. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but its true: I should know, as I have had personal experience of Focus Ireland etc.
I wish you all the very best of luck, Mary Ward.
Christy wrote:- “you don’t get to be the richest single organisation on the planet by paying out willy nilly to every victim of clerical sexual abuse.”
Of course not, Christy. But, may I add a key word here? POLITICAL. The Catholic Church aka The Vatican is the biggest richest single POLITICAL organisation in the Western world.
Catherine wrote:-
“All human beings are born free , with the right to speak…”
I beg to differ, Catherine. All of us are not born free. Babies are not born with the ability to speak, to verbally express themselves. IMO, the vast majority of Irish people were/are born into families i.e., their immediate environment, which is so permeated by RC dogma (down the generations) that they have little or no say in how they are treated as infants and young children.
That’s the Awful Tragedy about Ireland…
“He (PADDY Doyle) also criticised the fact that victims who went before the redress board could not bring anyone with them to the hearing or talk about the award afterwards. To do so would risk fines of up to €25,000 and jail.”
Absolutely fucking crazy, Paddy! But then, I’ve said this to survivors of the Industrial Schools themselves, almost 20 years ago, that they are fools to go the Redress Board and not directly to the Courts themselves. I just knew they would not get ANY sort of justice (and money is no compensation for being systematically abused and violated as a child) from a tribunal set up by their Roman Catholic masters!
Paddy, all my own life I hid the truth from my wife of 54 years and our children. I did not realise the terrible problem I had, did Jesus really mean it when he said, Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto me,? I will certainly appear before him in that case. I did eventually speak to my wife but not all the facts, the facts are out there now for her to read and I could not bring myself to speak of the horror to any of my children, grandchildren and great grand children, I suffered in silence for too long. When I was released from Glin in 1951 I never again put a foot inside a Church and neither have any of my little family here in Canada, I am damaged goods. Compensation, I gave most away to the children which was a pittance anyway, they stole my childhood and gave me 30 pieces of silver in lieu, Thank you father for I have sinned.
Seanie.
I am one of the older survivors of Goldenbridge Industrial
Reformatory as it was in my time,The brutality was so soul destroying
the terrible memories have lived with me all my life to the extent I
reinvented myself so that my husband knew nothing of my past. My children
or grandchildren didn’t know a thing about me. We never hear
about us older ones who suffered most we were not allowed a voice we are
bullied to keep quiet and just go away ,the Redress Board was abuse all
over again which left me unable to cope with life and brought the
horrors back which effected my whole family, they gave me the crumbs left
over, didn’t compensate for the terrible after effects, they bullied
me and insulted my parents making out it was their fault. They insisted I
passed an exam. I was to frightened to ask a question about that and
just wanted to get out of that room and my own country to this day I don’t know
my siblings nor any family I had, we were all sentenced to detention
into different reformatory’s in different parts of Ireland to try and
trace siblings is to painful for the awful memories I have. I can see
what they suffered, we were all no more than Babies. We should have been
given each the same amount is those who went to court- around £350,000 to 500,000
even that wouldn’t compensate for such a huge loss. All I want is to be
able to buy a home of my own in Wexford or Dublin that I can pass on to
my own and try and enjoy the time I have left on this earth. I have had
a word with others who were left so traumatised after the Redress Board
hearing all became very sick, ie Heart Attacks, Cancers, disturbed, and
a few like myself had reinvented themselves so no one knew and got on
with some kind of life are now left without help ,There isn’t any and
has NOT been, help is only for the FEW in Dublin.and their group are
tight knit they are mainly those in Goldenbridge in later years and
quiet right to. Those of us away from Dublin get no help, I have had to
break my heart helping another older survivor dying of cancer, all those
so called services who apply for funding? Where is the funding
going and what on? We must be able to have their books checked down to
every penny no survivor should be left homeless. I was in focus Ireland
an older man came in for help with housing he had grown up in an
Industrial hell hole and had nowhere to live he looked so sad and lonely
he had no one and had been living and sleeping out in the streets, I
listened to what was said, they told him they had a long waiting list of
people waiting to be housed and that there was not enough accommodation
in Dublin they sent him off to a hostel for the night. He looked so
tired he had tears running down his face I could see he was once a
beautiful looking man, Bless Focus housing they did try to help. That
should be the governments job they should look after survivors before
anyone else, Its our Human Right, The Religious and the Irish Government
took (Stole) all of our rights as children and stood by knowing they
were breaking the Law of the land of Ireland by knowingly turning their
backs and allowing the children of Ireland to be committed and confined
to detention and detained to child prisons to be beaten black and blue,
Battered,Starved,Brutalized ,we had to carry out all the domestic work
and work in the Rosary bead factory often most of the night),the
knitting factory,the laundry,we were Never allowed to communicate with
each other, everything had to be carried out in total silence from our
lips. We were sexually abused, (yes it happened in Goldenbridge) its
never talked about we had to all strip naked and stand on a line all
ages to be painted by the Nuns and staff with smelly white stuff that
stung they laughed at us and called us names and hit us with the large
paint brushes they were using all over in front of everyone. We had to
stand around while the smelly stuff dried on our bodies, they
deliberately made sure it went up our noses and in our eyes they hit us
to open our legs by slapping violently the paintbrush hard so it
hurt,it made them laugh more and hit us more,we children were so
traumatized, Hurt, Neglected, starved, beaten up until we were fearful
of even our own shadow. After all that we were again abused at the
Redress Board while the solicitors stood by and didn’t stand and put up a
fight for justice proper justice for us. They laughed all the way to the
bank The emotional shock has left me Angry. I am very Angry. How dare
they commit such crimes against children and they try to cover it up by
throwing crumbs at us and intimidate and threaten us into silence. We
must be properly compensated .
I am one of the older survivors of Goldenbridge Industrial
Reformatory as it was in my time,The brutiality was so soul distroying
the terrible memories have lived with me all my life to the extent i
reinvented myself so that my husband knew nothing of my past my children
or grandchildren didn’t know that I was Irish until 1999,we never hear
about us older ones who suffered most we were not allowed a voice we are
bullied to keep quiet and just go away ,the redress board was abuse all
over again which left me unable to cope with life and brought the
horrors back which effected my whole family,they gave me the crumbs left
over ,didn’t compensate for the terrible after affects ,they bullied
me and Insulted my parents making out it was their fault,they insisted I
passed an exam I was to frightened to ask a question about that and
just wanted to get out of that room and Ireland.to this day I don’t know
my siblings nor any family I had,we were all sentenced to detention
into different reformatory’s in different parts of Ireland to try and
trace siblings is to painful for the awful memories i have I can see
what they suffered ,we were all no more than Babies.we should have been
given each the same amount is those who went to court .around £350,000
even that wouldn’t compensate for such a huge loss.all I want is to be
able to buy a home of my own in Wexford or Dublin. that I can pass on to
my own and try and enjoy the time i have left on this earth.I have had
a word with others who were left so traumatised after the redress board
hearing all became very sick, ie Heart Attacks, Cancers, disturbed, and
a few like myself had reinvented themselves so noone knew and got on
with some kind of life are now left without help ,There isn’t any and
has NOT been ,help is only for the FEW in Dublin.and their group are
tight knit.they are mainly those in Goldenbridge in later years.and
quiet right to,those of us away from Dublin get no help,I have had to
break my heart helping another older survivor dying of cancer,all those
so called services who apply for funding ,?where is the funding
going??and what on?we must be able to have their books checked.down to
every penny no survivor should be left homeless.I was in focus Ireland
an older man came in for help with housing he had grown up in an
Industrial hell hole and had nowhere to live he looked so sad and lonely
he had noone and had been living and sleeping out in the streets ,I
listened to what was said ,they told him they had a long waiting list of
people waiting to be housed and that there was not enough accommodation
in Dublin they sent him off to a hostel for the night ,he looked so
tired he had tears running down his face I could see he was once a
beautiful looking man, Bless Focus housing they did try to help That
should be the governments job they should look after survivors before
anyone else,Its our Human Right, The Religious and the Irish Government
took (Stole)all of our rights as children and stood by knowing they
were breaking the Law of the land of Ireland by knowingly turning their
backs and allowing the children of Ireland to be committed and confined
to detention and detained to child prisons to be beaten black and blue,
Battered,Starved,Brutalized ,we had to carry out all the domestic work
and work in the Rosary bead factory often most of the night),the
knitting factory,the laundry,we were Never allowed to communicate with
each other, everything had to be carried out in total silence from our
lips,we were sexual’y abused ,(yes it happened in Goldenbridge) its
never talked about we had to all strip naked and stand on a line all
ages to be painted by the Nuns and staff with smelly white stuff that
stung they laughed at us and called us names and hit us with the large
paint brushes they were using all over in front of everyone ,we had to
stand around while the smelly stuff dried on our bodies ,they
deliberately made sure it went up our noses and in our eyes they hit us
to open our legs by slapping violently the paintbrush hard so it
hurt,it made them laugh more and hit us more,we children were so
traumatized ,Hurt,Neglected ,starved, beaten up until we were fearful
of even our own shadow. After all that we were again abused at the
redress board.while the solicitors stood by and didn’t stand and put up a
fight for justice proper justice for us.they laughed all the way to the
bank.the emotional shock has left me Angry .I am very Angry.How dare
they commit such crimes against children and they try to cover it up by
throwing crumbs at us and intimate and threaten us into silence. we
must be properly compensated .
Well, I wish all these Irish survivors and survivors of child abuse everywhere the very best of luck. Nothing can ever give us back our childhoods, compensation is necessary, after all, you get compensation if you’ve been in jail for something you haven’t done and living in an Industrial School in Ireland was often worse than being in prison and most of these children had committed no crime, they simply had no one to look after them.
I was not born and brought up in Ireland but I suffered childhood sexual, emotional and physical abuse which was well hidden and even sometimes encouraged by the patronising secrecy surrounding the Catholic Church in England, the Church that very successfully screwed up my parents minds.
So all the very best of luck to you survivors, you deserve a decent amount of compensation and the recognition of what happened to you all. I can’t pretend to understand all you have been through, but I know about sexual abuse, it feels the same and causes us all the same problems whoever it happens to and where ever they come from. You have all my admiration, carry on fighting for what is rightly yours.
Aghast Hi Paddy
I have just an article in today’s Irish Times by Paddy Agnew entitled ” Vatican’s Textbook Case of how not to manage news”.
What papal planet is this guy on? Typical Irish journalism, when reporting on anything religious.
Holding back their punches when it is a knock punch that is needed, I find it an insult to the good name of journalism that he thinks that the Vatican’s senior spin doctor, LOMBARDI, is and I quote ” A descent honest, competent and patently good man.”
This guy Lombardi wrote the book on spin, he would not been in the job if he was a descent, honest, competent and patently good man.
Lombardi is most certainly a very, very competent spin doctor and good at his job unlike the vast majority of “pussy cat” journalists who year in, year out sit through press conferences and listen to the spin from the Catholic Church about the horrors of child abuse and then just take the copy and run, never to ask the poignant questions.
I didn’t see very many of the Irish journalists back in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s or since reporting in any detail of the rapes and buggery in Artane and Letterfrack.
The horrors of child forced labour and the physical and psychological abuse in Goldenbridge.
What were they reporting on through the decades when the mothers and fathers of children were going to them to report that their kids were being raped, buggered, tortured and starved, was it the price of beef at the Kerry Cattle Market? The parents of these children could not go to the Church/State because they would not be believed just like their children.
If anyone thinks that the O’Connor Incident in the Dublin Newsroom was an isolated incident, think again, it happened all over Ireland. The Church/State had the power to kill any story stone dead.
How many books, by Irish journalists are on the way out about the four reports into the systematic sexual, psychological and physical abuse of children? A great little earner for them.
I will say one thing for Mr Agnew when he said in his article that the Catholic Church was more concerned with Global Warming than Clerical abuse of children in Ireland or its 4 million Catholics.
Ah well, I will give him one more accolade, he said that the Catholic Church is aghast about the $2 Billion paid out to US victims of abuse and do not want to see the buck stop at the Apostolic Door. What he should be saying is that the Catholic Church wants the Irish and any other taxpayers to payout damages to victims of clerical abuse.
I suppose you don’t get to be the richest single organisation on the planet by paying out willy nilly to every victim of clerical sexual abuse.
If there is a journalist or author out there of the calibre of Paddy Doyle who is offended by my words I humbly an unconditionally apologies.
Christy
He also criticised the fact that victims who went before the redress board could not bring anyone with them to the hearing or talk about the award afterwards. To do so would risk fines of up to €25,000 and jail.
Still the patriarchal SECRECY.
How can this be allowed in 2010.
The psychological damage to human beings re the use of gagging orders like this is horrendous.
I had to go to London to have my jaws “released” as the result of such gagging orders.
All human beings are born free , with the right to speak about anything that pertains to themselves, so this is a breach of human rights.
Anyone care to take the boys on in this one?
We win hands down.
Justice must always be SEEN, to be Done.