Victims/ survivors of Spiritan abuse further traumatised by ongoing delay in delivery of Redress Scheme

3 October 2025: The advocacy group Restore Together has said that victims/ survivors of child sex abuse at Spiritan schools (Blackrock College & Willow Park School, Rockwell College, St. Mary’s College, St. Michael’s College and Templeogue College) are suffering further trauma from the lack of urgency in the establishment of an agreed redress scheme and other elements of the Independent Restorative Justice Framework first announced three years ago by the Spiritans.

If fully implemented, the restorative framework has the potential to be a ground-breaking development in Irish social justice in a country that has struggled to deal with the myriad of sexual abuse scandals that have been exposed in the last 30 years.

The Spiritan Restorative Justice Framework is independently and professionally managed. It is progressively designed to address the traumas of abuse in a holistic, collaborative and non-adversarial manner, to help people to heal and get justice and to rebalance the power between victim and perpetrator

Restore Together say there is no excuse for not having all six elements of the programme implemented by now considering it is decades after children were abused, over four years since Restore Together first met the Spiritans and three years since the Restorative Justice Framework itself was announced.

The delivery of a non-adversarial, victim-centred and full-value redress scheme, instead of people having to go to court with its adversarial setting and expense, is a particularly important element of the promised restorative programme. Restore Together says just half of the six programme elements are fully activated so far – apology, therapy/ counselling and Restorative Justice services. In addition to the redress scheme, a Truth Searching/ Gathering process to help the Spiritans and Irish society learn from the abuse scandal has yet to be agreed and started. The last element, physical and other forms of memorialisation at Spiritan schools, will not be implemented until all of the other elements are activated and progressed.

Restore Together spokesperson, Philip Feddis, said: “We were told in June that we would have an update by the end of the Summer, but currently we cannot even get a meeting to discuss the status of the Redress Scheme and the other elements of the Restorative Justice Framework that was announced no less than three years ago. It is not acceptable to victims/ survivors because justice delayed is justice denied. It is over four years since we first engaged with the Spiritans on this scandal. The people suffering are mainly in their 60s or older, so we are deep into overtime. The full Restorative Justice Framework must be delivered in a timely way or its benefit will be diluted or even lost if people are made to wait and fight for every element of it.”

He added: “The Spiritans’ own statement last June sums it up, when they wrote….

‘I am reminded constantly by those who suffered that words and apologies are of little value without concrete action. We realise that for those awaiting announcement of a redress scheme that time is of the essence. We acknowledge that the pace of putting in place the necessary framework for overhauling and restructuring the assets of the Province, has been slow. It is my sincere hope that I will be in a position by the end of the Summer to provide a further, more detailed update of the progress we are making in forging new paths to create a just redress scheme.’ 

Mr Feddis concluded: “There is no argument about the need to address the wrongs that continue to harm us or how it should be done. So why, after all these years, is there a lack of urgency and why must we be made to appeal, plead, fight and ultimately wait for justice like this? We can only conclude that there is a lack of understanding, empathy and prioritisation by the Spiritans for their victims/ survivors.”

ENDS