This is the 17th in a series of newsletters which the Board has decided to produce to keep applicants informed from time to time as to the procedures it follows and other developments. The Board's Guide to Hearing Procedures issued in April 2003 and in December of 2005 the Board issued the third edition of the guide.
Applications
The final date for receipt of applications has now passed and the Board has received a total of 14,584 applications.
The Board notifies applicants once it has received all necessary documentation in relation to their case. The Board is now in the process of finalising the remaining 1,394 applications before it and is hopeful of completing the greater majority of cases by the end of the year. In recent times the Board has held a number of callovers with the solicitors on record to ascertain the up to date position with their cases.
Applications Received after 15th December 2005
Pursuant to the provisions of section 8(2) and 8(3) of the 2002 Act the Board may, at its discretion and where it considers there are exceptional circumstances, extend the period for receipt of applications. Any applicant wishing to lodge an application after December 15th 2005 is asked to explain in writing to the Board why the application was not lodged in time. The Board considers each such submission individually. By the 18th May 2009 the Board had received 394 such submissions which were dealt with as follows;
101 submissions were accepted by the Board
177 submissions were disallowed by the Board
10 submissions were withdrawn
8 applications were invalid
In 87 cases the Board is awaiting further information from the applicant
11 submissions remain to be considered by the Board
Awards
To date the Board has completed the process in 13,190 cases and has made awards totaling €787.45 million. 9,833 offers have been made following settlement talks and 2,603 awards have been made following hearings. 6 applicants have rejected their awards. 754 applications were withdrawn, refused or resulted in no award. By and large applications have been refused as, on the face of the documentation, the application was outside the Board's terms of reference as laid down in the 2002 Act. In other words, the applications did not relate to residential institutions as defined in the Act. These applications are determined by the Board immediately on receipt so that the applicant is informed at the earliest possible date that his/her application is outside the ambit of the redress scheme.
The average value of the 12,436 awards to date is €63,320, the largest award being €300,500.
Redress Board Bands
The breakdown of awards by Redress Band is as follows:
Redress Bands |
Total Weightings for Severity of Abuse and Injury/Effects of Abuse |
Award Payable by way of Redress |
Number |
Percentage |
V |
70 or more |
€200,000 - €300,000 |
27 |
0.22% |
IV |
55 to 69 |
€150,000 - €200,000 |
197 |
1.58% |
III |
40 to 54 |
€100,000 - €150,000 |
1668 |
13.41% |
II |
25 to 39 |
€50,000 - €100,000 |
6221 |
50.02% |
I |
Less than 25 |
Up to €50,000 |
4323 |
34.76% |
Total |
|
|
12436 |
100.00% |
Legal Costs
To date the Board has paid legal costs to 817 firms of solicitors in respect of 11,134 applications. A total of €138.5 million has been paid, of which €11 million was paid in respect of associated High Court proceedings in accordance with section 27(2) of the Redress Act.
