Redress Board Compensation Scheme: The Comptroller and Auditor General has estimated that up to 8,700 people are now expected to make claims under the Redress Board abuse compensation scheme for former residents of children's institutions and industrial schools, and the total cost could be over €800 million.
His report has also uncovered that the State paid €750,000 in fees last year to lawyers representing religious orders in relation to the costs of handling old abuse files.
The number of expected claimants is now more than three times the original number of claims expected by the Department of Education, and could cost anywhere between €605 million and €828 million, according to the comptroller, at least €100 million more than the maximum cost of €506 million estimated by the Department of Education.
The report is expected to add a further impetus to the ongoing inquiry by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) into the deal, which is to call in the secretary general of the Department, Mr John Dennehy, to discuss the latest figures. This is based on the current average award of €77,400 and legal and administrative fees bringing the total cost of each award to €93,000.
The latest report is the second successive report to examine the controversial Government redress deal, signed in 2002, in which 18 religious orders received an indemnity from civil claims from the State in return for a one-off contribution of €128 million, most of it in property transfers. The Government also established the redress scheme as part of the deal.
Last year's report estimated that the potential exposure of the State from the redress scheme was anywhere from €605 million to an outer limit of €1 billion.
To date, 3,763 valid claims have been made to the scheme.
There have been 1,277 awards, amounting to €98.8 million since it was established. Only five awards were found to have no basis, with no amount being awarded.
The latest report has developed various estimates of the potential final number of claimants.
Based on figures provided by 20 law firms, which account for more than a third of all claims to the Redress Board, the comptroller estimates a potential final number of claimants in the region of 8,900 or €828 million.
The comptroller also estimated a potential of between 8,200 and 8,700, or up to €809 million, based on the current level of Freedom of Information requests from former residents.
The report also notes that the Redress Board itself, in its annual report, estimates the number of potential claimants at between 6,500 and 7,000 or up to €650 million.
The report has acknowledged that there could be a decline in the average amount awarded, while legal costs could also rise, and the estimates will have to be revised periodically "to take account of emerging information".
The comptroller also reported that the Department of Education has retained the services of legal firms which were acting for the religious orders in the original compensation claims prior to the redress scheme. The firms were paid an annual fee of up to €250 for the management of these files and €250 an hour for specific legal work on the files.
The firms were paid €750,000 for the first 12 months of the redress scheme, but payments will stop next month when case files are transferred to the Chief State Solicitor's office.
The report also outlined that the Government had yet to accept in full any of the property transfers from the orders, which are to amount to €78 million of the €128 million contribution.
The Department of Education has, however, accepted in principle 27 properties, amounting to €28.43 million, which were already transferred by the orders between 1999 and 2002. Thirteen of these properties have not been transferred to State bodies but to voluntary charities.
The Government has also accepted, in principle, the transfer of a further 35 properties, amounting to €33.29 million, while one congregation has provided €4 million cash in lieu of property.