In December, Ivana Bacik, the Leader of the Labour Party in the Republic of Ireland introduced the Civil Liability (Child Sexual Abuse Proceedings Unincorporated Bodies of Persons) Bill 2025 to the Dáil as a private member’s bill.

The underlying rational for the Bill is to provide a legislative framework, which will ensure that religious institutions, associated trusts and other unincorporated organisations can be held liable for historic child sexual abuse committed in their care.

The Labour Party stated the intention of the private member’s bill is to ensure that unincorporated bodies cannot avoid their responsibilities arising from child sexual abuse proceedings by transferring assets into complex trust arrangements.

Ms Bacik said: “This bill aims to address that imbalance by facilitating civil proceedings against unincorporated bodies, such as religious orders, and providing a mechanism for recovering damages from the ‘associated’ trusts of these bodies.” 

She added that: “The bill will enable survivors to pursue civil actions directly against unincorporated orders and the trusts currently holding their assets. It follows years of calls from survivors for effective mechanisms to ensure that those responsible for abuse cannot hide behind outdated structures.”

The Labour Party are calling for cross party support for the private member’s bill.