Commission To Inquire Into Child Abuse - The CICA Legislation, 1999-2005

The CICA Legislation, 1999-2005

A series of media revelations in the 1990s led to legal actions by former inmates that the government realised would succeed, resulting in substantial damages and legal costs. Principally the "States of fear" television series made by Mary Raftery for RTÉ caused questions to be raised in the Dáil in April 1999. The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern promptly apologised in May 1999: On behalf of the State and of all citizens of the State, the Government wishes to make a sincere and long overdue apology to the victims of childhood abuse for our collective failure to intervene, to detect their pain, to come to their rescue. In April–May 2000 his government passed the "Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Act, 2000". The institutions were renamed "residential institutions" inclusively comprising "a school, an industrial school, a reformatory school, an orphanage, a hospital, a children’s home and any other place where children are cared for other than as members of their families.

• The CICA was initially envisaged as an independent statutory body for the former inmates to record their experiences.
• A "Redress Board" was created alongside CICA under a 2002 Act, and would pay compensation as recommended.

CICA's investigations were made through two sub-committees:

• A Confidential Committee that allowed the complainants to recite their experiences "in a confidential setting".
• A more pro-active Investigation Committee where witnesses could be compelled to attend.

Though funded by the Department of Education, the CICA has found itself occasionally hindered by it and by various church bodies, particularly for lack of documents. As a result its first chairman, Judge Laffoy, resigned in 2003, in part because of a lengthy review process that caused a 9-month delay. This review was sponsored by the Department and headed by Seán Ryan, a senior barrister, who then became CICA's next chairman.

Mr Ryan's appointment was accompanied by a government comment by Noel Dempsey that he was also to be made a judge. This was a surprise at the time, as Irish High Court judges are limited in number by law, and no vacancies then existed. Questions arose on the impartiality of CICA, but in the event its final Report has been thoroughly researched. CICA's limitations were imposed by the 2000 Act, and it reconsidered its approach and focus in the "Emergence Hearings" which began in mid-2004, requiring all the parties involved to complete a series of questionnaires. It also published a number of interim reports.

Following the Emergence Hearings the 2000 Act was amended by a further Act in 2005. A principal reform (section 8) was to prohibit the identification of an alleged abuser unless convicted of the abuse in question.

Notably, while every witness to the Commission gave evidence of frequent corporal punishment, applied contrary to the regulations and therefore criminally, no Church witness came forward to certify a single such case. Difficulties arose where complainants or the accused were involved in parallel criminal or civil cases, such as the vaccine trials performed on inmate children. With such divergent views the CICA's task has been difficult and contentious, but it has agreed with the evidence given by the complainants. Given Mr. Ahern's general apology in 1999, it would be hard to conclude otherwise.