The Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB) has been criticised for not being more vigorous in alerting people to the fact that its closing date for compensation applications to the board is December 15th.
Questions have also been raised about reports that the average settlements have dropped from €78,000 to €76,500.
Tom Cronin, of the Irish Survivors of Institutional Abuse group, said there were still former residents who were not aware they were entitled to compensation and who were unaware their legal and other costs would be covered if they applied to the board. He knew such people.
He said no one appeared to be dealing with people who had undergone vaccine trials in the institutions, which was being dealt with at one time by the Child Abuse Commission. He knew five people who had undergone such trials, including a man he met last weekend who still had eight marks on his arms. "What about them?" he asked.
Christine Buckley, of the Aislinn group, said she didn't believe the RIRB was making "a concerted effort to fulfil its mandate" by alerting people to the closing date for applications.
The RIRB's most recent newsletter said advertisements had been placed on TV and radio about the closing date but neither she nor anyone she knew had seen or heard them.
Many residents of the institutions were illiterate so advertisements in newspapers meant little to them, she said.
Ms Buckley asked how those who had been deaf or blind could be alerted. Perhaps former residents could be featured in advertisements, using plain language, she suggested.
Just 40 per cent of the residents lived in Ireland, and she wanted to know how the 60 per cent living abroad could be contacted. Leaflets in Irish embassies or consulates abroad were of little use to them as they had little contact with Irish diplomats.
Ms Buckley queried the drop in average settlements by the RIRB, asking what was so different about cases being heard now as opposed to the past.
She questioned the secrecy which made it impossible to know the answer to this question. She had spoken to someone in recent days who was awarded €60,000 after 10 years of sexual and physical abuse in an institution.
She wondered how the figure could be so low, not least when compensation for abuse in parishes was taken into account.
As of Thursday last, the RIRB was receiving more than 600 applications a month, bringing its total to date to 9,551. It has dealt with 4,267 cases; made 3,154 offers following settlement talks; and 1,006 awards following hearings. Five applicants rejected awards, while 17 applications resulted in no award.
The largest award it made was € 300,000.
It has also been indicated that RIRB spending would go up from €170.87 million this year to €185 million next year - an increase of 9 per cent.
