IT was set up by the church to help victims of abuse in industrial schools improve their education. But three years later it has emerged that less than one in three beneficiaries of a €12.7m trust fund has ever set foot in an industrial school or orphanage.

Furthermore, a large proportion of the proceeds of the compensation fund appears to have been spent on Irish dancing and salsa classes, driving lessons and swimming instruction.

A spokesman for the Education Finance Board (EFB), which is responsible for handing out the cash, says only 27.9% of those who have got grants are former residents of industrial schools. “The remainder are mostly children of residents, and some spouses,” he said. “The grants have been for a range of courses, from basic literacy to masters degrees.”

Almost 1,500 people from Ireland and around the world have received payments totalling €3.2m, an average of €2,100 each. There is still €10.5m left in the fund, which is being looked after by the National Treasury Management Agency.

But Patrick Walsh, vice-chairman of the EFB and a victims’ representative, is concerned about how the money has been awarded. He cites the lack of a verification system to ensure applicants are genuine, and is unhappy that grandchildren of industrial school residents will now be eligible for funding.

“As of last January, 1,775 people had applied for money, but none of these people were independently verified,” Walsh said. “People could send in applications for grants based on a form and photocopies of bits of paper. There may be bogus applications in there because the system is far too open. All it takes is someone with Tippex and a photocopier.”

Up until February payments from the fund were made by an ad-hoc committee but Mary Hanafin, the education minister, has now put the EFB on a statutory footing thereby changing the rules to allow grandchildren to apply. Walsh has criticised this extension given that no extra money was provided by the government. The original €12.7m was provided by 18 religious congregations.

“Grandchildren who have never been to Ireland, and whose grandfathers may have been in industrial schools for only a few days or back in the 1890s, are being included,” he said. “It doesn’t seem fair that a fund set up to rectify educational disadvantage to residents is being opened up to people who didn’t suffer that.”

Walsh, who spent 14 years in an industrial school, has asked the EFB to work out how much of the €3.2m has been spent on lifestyle classes such as salsa and swimming. One person recently received €2,000 for dance classes they had taken in 2002. “I have concerns about that,” he said.

A spokesman defended the practice of funding courses to help beneficiaries learn skills such as driving. “Driving lessons can be helpful to people in their normal lives,” he said. “Certain courses are not eligible. As well as paying fees, we give a degree of assistance. There are barriers to attendance in education, such as the cost of childcare, books and field trips.”

Under EFB guidelines to be published shortly, a ceiling will be placed on how much people can be given from the fund. This is due to concerns that some have received disproportionate amounts, with one person getting €20,000.

Walsh, a spokesman for Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (Soca) in England, said the Department of Education’s database will now be used to verify applicants, but he would like it to be used to do a retrospective check on the 1,500 beneficiaries, many of whom are in receipt of ongoing grants. “There has been a lack of proper checking,” he said.

The EFB is also scrapping a retrospectivity clause that allowed people to claim for courses they had done as far back as 2002. Walsh said this was also in response to “concerns” at board level.

The trust fund was set up in 2002 as part of a controversial deal between the Department of Education and religious orders. In return for a total package of €127m, including the fund, the department agreed to indemnify the orders against applications for compensation from former residents of institutions. The Residential Institutions Redress Board is now paying out compensation to about 15,000 people who were abused. Many people have made multiple applications to the EFB, with one person applying nine times.

A spokesman, however, said “fraud doesn’t arise. Once you can show you’re a former resident, or a relative with a direct link, and you can prove details of the residency, you’re eligible”.

Times Recommends

• Mandela’s tribe threatens President Zuma
• The French empire strikes back
• Wife of cheating governor exacts a political revenge