THE IRISH Jesuits have announced details of a redress scheme for survivors of Fr Joseph Marmion, who sexually assaulted dozens of boys at three different schools over forty years ago.
Marmion died in 2000 aged 75, and taught at Belvedere College, Dublin; Crescent College, Limerick and at Clongowes Wood College, Kildare.
The redress scheme allows compensation to be awarded in increments ranging from up to €10,000 to above €75,000, depending on the severity of the abuse suffered.
Irish Jesuit Provincial Leonard Moloney SJ said about the scheme:
"Once again I want to apologise to all those who suffered in any way at the hands of Joseph Marmion. At the time of naming, I said that words are never enough. They are not.
"However, it is my sincere hope that this scheme will go some way towards assuring victims of our commitment to continue responding in whatever ways possible to the wishes and concerns of survivors.
"I hope also that in its construction it will cause the least possible trauma to victim/survivors of Joseph Marmion, who have already suffered enough."
A statement from the Jesuits says that the scheme is "one strand in a number of processes that have taken place since the Order first named Joseph Marmion on March 2, 2021".
"Working with the facilitators, former pupils who had been abused identified that they wished to have as complete an understanding as possible of Fr Marmion’s behaviour and how much the Jesuits were aware of and responded to it."
This document was completed in July 2021.
Fr Moloney has renewed his call to survivors of abuse to contact the Order’s Child Safeguarding Office, the Restorative Facilitators, and the relevant authorities. He has expressed his gratitude to those survivors who have been in contact since the naming of Marmion and those who "have engaged so generously" in developing the processes.
To make an application in the scheme, the applicant must have suffered abuse by Joseph Marmion occasioning physical or psychological damage which is actionable at law, and the abuse must have commenced prior to the applicant's eighteenth birthday.
The scheme is voluntary in nature, however in accepting a settlement an applicant waives his right to pursue a claim against the Jesuits, any of the three schools, or any individual member of the Jesuit Order.
