Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse

The government has approved the delivery of a package of ongoing supports to survivors of abuse in residential institutions such as industrial schools and reformatories. The package includes health, education and advocacy supports, and other initiatives in areas such as housing, funeral costs and certification relating to detention in a relevant institution.

This website will be updated as further information on the various supports becomes available.

If you would like to receive updates on the supports, please email survivorsupports@education.gov.ie to be added to our mailing list.

Further information on the various supports can be found below.

The health and education supports for survivors are being provided under the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025.

The Act provides that these supports will be made available to survivors of abuse in relevant institutions who previously received an award of redress from the Residential Institutions Redress Board or a similar court award or settlement.

This is the same group of survivors who were previously eligible for supports from Caranua. However, survivors do not have to have engaged with Caranua to receive supports under the Act.

This requirement does not apply to the other supports and initiatives such as advocacy supports and certification relating to detention in a relevant institution.

Applicants for the health and education supports are required to apply to the Department of Education and Youth to confirm their eligibility. Applicants will only have to complete this process once.

Applicants should complete the form below and either send it electronically to survivorsupports@education.gov.ie or by post to

Eligible applicants who are resident in Ireland will be entitled to the provision of a range of health supports and services through the HSE. This will include the provision of a specific medical card to eligible survivors by the HSE, which will be for life and not subject to means-testing or review.

Eligible applicants who are resident outside Ireland may be entitled to a once-off health support payment of €3,000. Survivors who received a similar payment under the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme, or who are covered by the Magdalen Laundry Restorative Justice Scheme, are not eligible for these payments.

Applicants for either the HSE health supports or the health support payments should complete the form below and either send it electronically to survivorsupports@education.gov.ie or by post to

Eligible survivors can apply for education support payments to support either formal education and training or informal learning, self-development and wellbeing.

Applicants pursuing formal education and training can avail of support payments ranging from €500 to €2,000 per year, depending on the level of the course and whether it is full-time or part-time.

Applicants can also avail of education support payments of €600 per year to support informal learning, self-development and wellbeing.

Further information on these supports can be found at the following link

Applicants for an education support payment should complete the form below and either send it electronically to survivorsupports@education.gov.ie or by post to

Sage Advocacy is available to provide advocacy, information and signposting supports to survivors of abuse in residential institutions.

Sage Advocacy is an independent advocacy service with a long track record of providing advocacy supports to older persons, vulnerable adults and health care patients.

Sage Advocacy has regional advocates based around the country who can assist survivors to engage with service providers such as the HSE, local authorities and social protection.

Further information can be found on their website at www.sageadvocacy.ie or by phone at 01 536 7330.

Local authorities have been asked to identify an appropriate member of staff within the housing section of each local authority who can act as a dedicated liaison and contact point for survivors. Further information on the liaison officers will be published on this website in due course.

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has also written to each local authority requesting that they consider the housing needs of survivors on compassionate grounds when assessing social housing support applications from survivors.

Survivors should engage with their local authorities in relation to their housing needs.

The Department of Social Protection can provide once-off financial support payments to assist families who have experienced a bereavement. Each application is decided on its merits by the Community Welfare Service. Community Welfare Officers have been instructed to give specific consideration to the funeral costs of survivors of abuse in residential institutions.

When making the application for financial support in respect of funeral costs, the person making the application should advise the Community Welfare Officer that the person who has passed away was a survivor of a residential institution.

Further information on Community Welfare Offices can found here.

Please note that this measure is completely separate to the scheme which was previously implemented by Caranua and which provided funding to survivors to buy pre-paid funeral packages from funeral homes. Any arrangements paid for under that scheme, which is now closed, are unaffected.

The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration has confirmed that State did not and does not regard individuals as having committed a criminal offence, and no criminal record is recorded against them, by virtue of their detention in any industrial school.

With regard to children who were detained in industrial schools and who were subsequently transferred to a reformatory school solely by virtue of their detention in the industrial school, they are likewise not considered to have had any criminal record.

Individual certificates can be issued to survivors, on a case-by-case basis, including posthumously, following receipt and review of records.

In the first instance, survivors of industrial and reformatory schools who wish to obtain their records for the purposes of seeking such a certificate should email survivorsupports@education.gov.ie