This item was first published on the FACT website on 25th November 2004
Press Release
Subject: L.O.V.E Condemn Religious Orders in Indemnity Deal/Public Accounts Committee
Let Our Voices Emerge applaud the examination of the Indemnity Deal regarding the payment of compensation to genuine victims of abuse in Religious run, state funded Industrial Schools in Ireland.
We don't condemn the Religious Orders for giving funding towards the Redress Board Scheme at the time they did so believing it to be the least adversarial and least expensive approach to the issue of institutional abuse for their own members (most of whom plead their innocence!) and for the genuine victims.
What we do condemn them for is their ridiculous naivety in believing only genuine claimants would claim and in their failure to ensure the Redress Board Scheme would be adequately monitored, and in their failure to protect those of their own members who have been so horrifically falsely accused.
Although the Religious have been severely criticised for their apparently meagre contribution to the funding for compensation, we firmly believe that they have been more than generous with their efforts, and any attempt to extract more monies from them is farcical.
- Its generally accepted the State gave insufficient funding for the Homes. In order to receive more capitation funding more and more children had to be accepted.
- In spite of the insufficient funding, many children were accepted as 'charity cases' with no capitation given for them. (I myself came under this category!)
- The Religious workers in the Homes, cooks, laundry workers, supervisors received no pay for their work, and worked more than 70 hours a week constantly 'on the job'.
Florence Horsman Hogan
Chairperson LOVE (Let Our Voices Emerge)