Redress Board confidentiality clause.

political analyst

In an article for RTÉ's Brainstorm, NUI Galway lecturer Dr Maeve O'Rourke wrote:

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2019/0503/1047282-10-ways-institutional-abuse-details-are-still-being-kept-secret/

Under the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002, it is a criminal offence for survivors to "publish any information concerning an application or an award made under this Act that refers to any other person (including an applicant), relevant person or institution by name or which could reasonably lead to the identification of any other person (including an applicant), a relevant person or an institution referred to in an application made under this Act." Not only does this legislative provision appear to prohibit survivors from writing or speaking publicly about their experiences of seeking redress, but Reclaiming Self states that some survivors have interpreted it as preventing them from reporting their abusers to the Gardaí.

In an article for thejournal.ie in 2017, researcher Sinead Pembroke, the daughter of a survivor of institutional abuse who went through the Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB) scheme, wrote:

https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/after-hours-of-questioning-by-experts-theresa-was-left-traumatised-and-had-to-make-her-own-way-home-3299373-Mar2017/

Finally, the waiver form that each person had to sign when an award for compensation was made caused a lot of distress to survivors. While the waiver form can’t stop people who accepted an award for compensation telling their story, this legal threat created a climate of confusion and of fear, and consequently, they felt abused again by the State.

Does the "gagging clause", as critics have referred to it, prevent RIRB applicants from making statements to gardaí against alleged abusers separately from statements that were given to the RIRB?

Furthermore, it appears that there is a conflict in the opinions of the two academics in the details that I have highlighted in the quotes.


PS: I'm a disinterested observer - so I'm not seeking legal advice and I don't know RIRB applicants personally. Furthermore, I'm not seeking information for an academic project.

Riskymove

political analyst wrote: »

PS: I'm a disinterested observer - .

same here

my reading would be that it is an offence to disclose information about an award or about an application made by someone that could identify an applicant or an institution etc.

I don't think it would apply to telling your story generally speaking or reporting things to Guards

The Act also sets out that certain info can be disclosed by a person to:

(a) a member of the Garda Síochána if the person is acting in good faith and reasonably believes that such disclosure is necessary in order to prevent an act or omission constituting a serious offence, and

(b) to an appropriate person (within the meaning of the Protections for Persons Reporting Child Abuse Act, 1998) if the person is acting in good faith and reasonably believes that such disclosure is necessary to prevent, reduce or remove a substantial risk to the life or to prevent the continuance of abuse of a child.