Historical institutional child abuse in Ireland: survivor perspectives on taking part in the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) and the redress scheme

ABSTRACT

This article explores the experience of taking part in the Irish State’s Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) and the subsequent redress scheme. The Commission was set up in 2000 with the task of investigating Industrial and Reformatory Schools that were in existence for most of the twentieth century. A redress scheme was also set up by the government to compensate those who were abused in these institutions. 25 qualitative interviews were conducted with male and female Industrial and Reformatory School survivors. The focus of this article is to understand some of the issues that this cohort of survivors faced in taking part in the inquiry and redress process, dealing with issues such as re-traumatisation, retributive justice and procedural justice.

KEYWORDS:

• Industrial and Reformatory Schools
• Ireland
• historical institutional child abuse
• Catholic Church
• Inquiries
• redress schemes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sinead Pembroke

Dr Sinead Pembroke is a research fellow  in Trinity College Dublin.