In an Oireachtas committee room in late 2018, Scouting Ireland quietly dropped a bombshell that quickly engulfed the youth organisation in what became a massive historical child sex abuse scandal.
The then minister for children, Katherine Zappone, read an opening statement from the organisation to the committee, disclosing that some 108 people had contacted Scouting Ireland to report being sexually abused as children by scout leaders.
The revelation followed months of reporting by The Irish Times into governance and safeguarding issues at the organisation, which prompted significant numbers of survivors to come forward to report what had happened to them as children.
And in the hours and days after Scouting Ireland disclosed the historical abuse at the Oireachtas committee, phones in its Larch Hill head office began to ring and kept ringing, as more people came forward.
Staff had to be pulled from several corners of the office to cope with the numbers seeking to contact the organisation to report also being abused as children. Three weeks later the numbers of known alleged abuse victims had grown to more than 300, with 212 alleged perpetrators reported to the organisation.
The alleged abuse largely took place between the 1960s and 1990s, although since then child abuse has come to light which occurred as recently as 2008.
Scouting Ireland had formed in 2004 as a result of a merger between two former organisations, the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland and Scout Association of Ireland.
Along with stories of the horrific abuse of children at the hands of trusted scout leaders, an increasingly concerning picture began to emerge for the organisation that the abuse had been known about at the time.
In the weeks after the scandal first broke, evidence had begun to suggest that the historic abuse had been covered up by the former bodies.
Ian Elliott, a child-protection expert who had been working with the organisation to investigate the past abuse, issued a final report in 2020. That report confirmed child abuse had been covered up for decades to protect the reputation of the scouting movement. It found child sex abusers in several cases rose to positions of power in the former bodies, where they prevented other known abusers from being removed from scout groups.
Since the scale of the past abuse became clear senior figures have been concerned that the financial fallout could cripple the organisation.
Aisling Kelly, chair of the organisation’s board in late 2018, warned at the time that if the majority of alleged abuse victims pursued legal cases against Scouting Ireland the costs would collapse the organisation.
The organisation’s board was weighing up emergency financial measures, such as selling off scout dens to raise funds to cover the cost of abuse settlements. In the end about 40 alleged victims have moved to pursue civil actions for damages.
While a victims’ support fund was set up to pay for counselling for survivors, the organisation had previously insisted it could not afford a widespread redress scheme.
On several occasions senior Scouting Ireland figures have stated that the organisation does not want to drag survivors through a lengthy court battle for compensation.
However, in the four years since then, survivors who are taking legal cases, as well as their solicitors, have complained that the organisation has been robustly defending claims.
Despite past promises, many feel they have already had to endure a protracted legal battle, with their fight for compensation ongoing.
Now a recent letter from Scouting Ireland’s solicitors to lawyers representing many of the victims said the youth organisation “hopes in the future to establish a redress scheme” to pay compensation to alleged abuse victims.
The correspondence from Sheehan & Company LLP, who represent Scouting Ireland, on September 2nd last is the first time the organisation has referenced setting up a formal redress scheme.
The correspondence, sent to Coleman Legal Partners, said payments to alleged abuse victims under any future scheme “will not constitute any admission of legal liability” by the organisation. “If you would be interested in potentially participating in this scheme, please advise and we will update you as to any progress in relation to it,” the letter said.
Historic abuse in its predecessor organisations was of “the gravest concern to the scouting movement and the ethos which it upholds,” it said.
Two other solicitors representing several alleged victims, Pearse Mehigan and Kieran Cleary, said they had yet to receive similar correspondence referencing plans to set up a redress scheme.
Scouting Ireland would not outline any further details about the potential scheme, previously stating it could not comment on matters before the courts.
Nonetheless, survivors reading news of the possibility of a redress scheme will hope the development is the first thawing of the ice in a legal standoff over compensation that has already lasted several years.
