The move follows a major row between survivors and the
Residential Institutions Statutory Fund (RISF) after officials there
breached strict rules governing the use of abuse victims' personal data.
The
fund was set up earlier this year to administer money pledged by
religious congregations to support the needs of 15,000 survivors of
institutional abuse.
But objections were raised when the RISF used
data supplied by the Redress Board, a previous compensation scheme for
victims of institutional abuse, to analyse gender, age and geographical
patterns of survivors.
The use of the data in this way is not
allowed under the legislation setting up the fund and Mr Quinn has
confirmed that the material is now being destroyed.
The Survivors
of Child Abuse (SOCA) support group said it feared that people in
different parts of the country would be treated differently if such data
analysis was allowed.
ASSESSMENTS
Spokesman Patrick Walsh
said: "It is the deeply held fear of survivors that a scheme is being
fashioned based on people's gender, age and geographical location.
"The survivors don't want that. We want a level playing field, where assessments are made on need alone."
The
RISF was allowed access to records giving the names, addresses and date
of birth of abuse survivors who had previously received compensation
from the Redress Board.
Mr Quinn said this information could only
be used by the RISF to determine a person's eligibility to make an
application to the fund.
He said a RISF board meeting had been
supplied with "a very preliminary analysis of the data", but that this
was now being destroyed.
"Following discussions with my
department, the RISF has confirmed the information received from the
Redress Board will only be used for the purpose set out in the Act and
that the information is held securely," said Mr Quinn.
The RISF did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman for Mr Quinn said the RISF board had his full confidence.