February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Survivor groups are urging victims to submit their claims to the Residential Institutions Redress Board as the Dec. 15 deadline approaches.
The Irish Government established the Redress Board in 2002 after a number of media investigations revealed the horrific abuse suffered by children who were sent to industrial schools around Ireland, usually for committing petty crimes or because their parents were deemed unfit to look after them.
Between the 1920s and 1960s, it is estimated that 150,000 children were sentenced to spend time in residential institutions, which were under the charge of the State and run, for the most part, by Catholic clergy.
While there, some children suffered physical and sexual abuse, neglect and forced manual labor at the hands of their caregivers, often leaving school unable to read or write.
The Dublin-based Aislinn Education and Support Center estimates that at least half the survivors emigrated after they left school and is battling to raise awareness of the Board among victims living in the U.S. today.
“I’m totally disillusioned with the Redress Board, they have not made a concerted effort to inform survivors,” Aislinn founder and former Goldenbridge resident Christine Buckley said in an interview.
To date, there have been just over 5,000 claims, six percent of which have been filed from outside Ireland. The Redress Board has never advertised through media outside of Ireland. Buckley insisted the Redress Board failed to advertise sufficiently in media outside of Ireland.
“They’ve stated that they had advertised abroad through embassies. I find that hilarious,” according to Buckley. “An embassy isn’t somewhere you’d pop down to for local news.”
Under the terms of the Redress Board, victims can claim up to a maximum of