Irish school historical sex abuse claims to be examined by commission

A Commission of Investigation will be set up into historical sexual abuse allegations in day and boarding schools across the Republic of Ireland, the Irish government has said.

It appointed judge Mr Justice Michael MacGrath to chair the commission.

The Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition had committed to setting up a commission in its Programme for Government.

A scoping inquiry, published in 2024, found more than 2,000 allegations of abuse at more than 300 schools run by religious orders in Ireland.

Announcing the commission on Tuesday, Irish Minister for Education and Youth Helen McEntee said the revelations of the report of the scoping inquiry were “devastating” and the survivors’ accounts of their experiences had a “profound impact”.

She added it was clear that survivors wanted accountability and that “because of their courage, a light has been shone on a dark period of Irish history”.

The commission will be able to examine the handling of sexual abuse in all types of schools.

It will start preliminary work in the coming months and will then seek initial expressions of interest from people who may wish to provide information to it.

McEntee said when this part of the process began it would be widely advertised.

McEntee said more work was required in relation to setting up a redress scheme for survivors.

She said if it was set up it would be funded by religious orders and others who were accountable for abuse.

The chairman of the commission will be supported by a team of commissioners.

One commissioner will look at the investigation into the handling of sexual abuse claims in religious schools, which will continue the work of the scoping inquiry.

The second commissioner will start work on the investigation into sexual abuse at non-religious run schools.

A third commissioner will focus solely on a non-adversarial survivor engagement forum.