Following hundreds of allegations of abuse being made by men who attended schools run by religious orders In Ireland, in November 2022 the then Taoiseach, Micheál Martin confirmed there would be an inquiry into the allegations.

On 7 March 2023, the Irish government approved the establishment of a scoping inquiry to inform the government’s response to revelations of historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders. The Minister for Education appointed a Senior Counsel, Mary O’Toole SC, to lead the scoping inquiry.

Mary O’Toole SC was asked to provide a report to the Minister for Education in accordance with these Terms of Reference by 7 November 2023. Ms O’Toole requested an extension to the deadline for submission of the report to the Minister for Education. The report is now due on 7 June 2024.

The purpose of the report is to:

• set out a potential framework for the Irish Government response into historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders that could also form a template for the Irish Government’s responses elsewhere.
• make recommendations on the scope/breadth and sequencing of such a response or modular response that will, in so far as is possible, best meet outcomes sought by survivors of historical sexual abuse and to suggest Terms of Reference for same.
• outline findings of best practice that emerge from workstreams as relevant and appropriate to future practice in the area of child protection and potential restorative justice initiatives by religious orders.

Ms O’Toole’s work is to be informed by reports and inputs from experts across a range of areas including child protection, restorative justice and, most importantly, survivor engagement.

The Irish Government has made it clear that engagement with survivors is central to the work of the scoping inquiry. The survivor engagement process will provide an opportunity for the views of those who are most directly affected to be heard clearly and ensure that the recommendations set out in Ms O’Toole's final report are informed by the outcomes sought by survivors.

The survivor engagement process is being led by child protection expert Kieran McGrath and conducted by facilitators trained in trauma-informed practice. The first stage of the process, in which survivors were invited to complete a questionnaire about their experiences, has closed. For survivors who choose to be contacted for the second stage of the process, the Scoping Inquiry arranged for trauma-informed facilitators to reach out to them and survivors were able to select the ways in which they are willing to be contacted by these facilitators. This was to give survivors an opportunity to tell their own stories, in their own words. 

Survivors who have agreed to take part in the process have been sent two booklets: one explaining what is involved with the interviews and a second “Guide to Potential Government Responses”. The latter booklet outlines the possible forms of inquiry which may be set up into abuse in the schools being investigated and asks for the opinions of survivors on each. They are presented with three options: a tribunal of investigation; a commission of investigation; a non-statutory public inquiry, or a restorative justice process.

Readers of the blog will be updated about this matter following the publication of Ms O’Toole’s final report, which is expected on 7 June 2024.