ALMOST €926 million has been paid out so far by the Residential Institutions Redress Board to former residents of industrial schools, reformatories and orphanages run by religious congregations, as well as lawyers, according to new figures released yesterday. It suggests that the final cost of compensation for such former residents will be over €1,020 million.
The board received 14,584 claims for compensation from people living in Ireland and 30 other countries who said they suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse in the institutions from the 1930s onwards.
The board has processed 13,190 of the applications and has made awards totalling €787.45 million.
It has also paid an additional €138.5 million to 817 firms of solicitors, representing 11,134 applicants.
A number of law firms have received multimillion-euro payments.
The average award to date is €63,320, the largest being €300,500.
The board, established in December 2002, is in the process of finalising the remaining 1,394 applications and is hopeful of completing this by the end of the year.
It is expected to pay out almost €90 million more in awards and legal costs.
To date, 9,833 compensation offers were made following settlement talks and 2,603 followed hearings.
Six applicants rejected their awards and 754 applications were withdrawn, refused or resulted in no award.
Most refusals were because those seeking compensation had not been in residential institutions covered by the scheme.
A total of 27 people were awarded between €200,000 and €300,000, due to the severity of their abuse and its effects on them.
Just over half of the awards involved payments of between €50,000 and €100,000, while 35 people got less than €50,000.
An estimated 61 per cent of the claims have come from Ireland, 33 per cent from Britain and Northern Ireland, and 4 per cent from Australia, the US and Canada.
The ratio of men to woman claiming compensation is about 60:40.
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