Records indicating that sexual abuse had taken place in religious institutions were known to the former minister for education, Dr Michael Woods, during his term of office, it has emerged.
Dr Woods: The moral and social responsibility rested with the State
Dr Woods, who was minister between January 2000 and June 2002, told the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse today there were "reports on record of physical and in some cases sexual abuse".
His predecessor at the Department, Mr Martin, told the Commission yesterday he had not come across sexual-abuse reports on State files during his period as minister for education.
Dr Woods told the commission of a case in which a priest made, what he described as, "veiled accusations" in 1965 while temporarily based at an institution. The priest was dismissed as a "crank" and the Department accepted the explanation, Dr Woods said.
The former minister was involved in a controversy last year when it emerged that he had agreed a financial redress scheme for abuse victims to which religious congregations would make a €128 million contribution.
He signed-off on the agreement without the knowledge of the Department of Justice or the Attorney General's office.
Counsel for the Commission, Mr Noel McMahon SC, today said he would not be questioning Dr Woods about the terms of the deal but rather the circumstances in which a decision was made to create a redress scheme.
Dr Woods said: "The moral and social responsibility rested with the State." The children's care was effectively "subcontracted" to the institutions, he said.
There was "no doubt" that people had suffered trauma from abuse though the files did not indicate the numbers involved. He moved to set up a statutory commission to investigate into the abuse as a matter of "urgency".
Although it later decided that compensation should be paid, Dr Woods said he was not willing to wait for the congregations to decide on what contribution they would make to the scheme.
"I felt that it had taken long enough for society to accept that an injustice had been done. I did not want them [victims] to go through the trauma of the adversarial system of our courts", Dr Woods said.
Dr Woods's evidence concluded today although the Commission may ask him to attend again.