News & Info

Mary O’Toole Senior Counsel will be leading the scoping inquiry, with the assistance of experts including Kieran McGrath, who is an expert in child protection.

The inquiry is to be made up of reports and inputs from experts across a range of areas, such as child protection, restorative justice and survivor engagement.

The Lead will submit a report at the end of the process which will include recommendations for next steps to the Minister.

Minister Foley publicly announced that she wanted survivors to be central to the scoping inquiry process and to engage with as many survivors as possible. She said she was asking and inviting these survivors to come forward, and that a website connected with the inquiry would go live.

Minister Foley also said:

“The revelations of abuse in a number of schools are deeply disturbing and heart-breaking. I, and indeed the whole of government, are very conscious of the enormous trauma which has been endured by all the survivors of abuse.”

“It is vitally important that survivors of historical child sexual abuse have the opportunity to be heard in full, and with appropriate respect and sensitivity.”

The minister has said that it will be tough to gauge how long the inquiry will take, but she believes we could expect a timeframe of about 8 months.

By mid-February 2023, An Garda Síochána had received 131 contacts on the matter, either through the Sexual Crime Management Unit Office at the Garda National Protective Services Bureau or at local Garda stations across the country.

Gardai have said that the contacts have been primarily from people who have suffered sexual abuse in the past, witnessed sexual abuse or/and from people on behalf of those who suffered from sexual abuse.

If you are a survivor and you wish to register your interest in this scoping process you can find details of how to do so at gov.ie/educationscopinginquiry.

You can also email survivorengagement@esi.gov.ie or phone 00 353 90-6483610