By Barry O'Kelly

The state may face thousands of new lawsuits from victims of physical abuse in industrial schools because of findings in a record ?370,000 court settlement last week.
This is according to a number of specialist lawyers who believe several precedents were set in the High Court judgment on the abuse inflicted by care worker David Murray.
Murray, 61, is serving two ten-year concurrent jail terms.
The victim who received the award told the High Court last week that Murray beat and threatened to kill him after he reported the abuse at St Joseph's Institution in Co Kilkenny.
The court heard that he reported the sexual and physical abuse several times to the institution's supervisor.
He also reported what happened in the presence of two volunteer workers, the court heard.

The victim later met with Bishop Peter Birch, the Bishop of Ossory, and he recalled the bishop saying: ?Something has to be done. This has to stop.?

The court awarded compensation for physical assault in spite of the fact that such abuse does not qualify under an amendment to the law in 2000.

This legislation effectively allowed people to lodge claims for sexual abuse for periods beyond the normal statute of limitations.

The majority of compensation claims lodged to date relate to physical abuse, according to the Irish Survivors of Child Abuse.

Almost all the people seeking compensation were expected to be dealt with by the Residential Institutions Redress Board where the average award is ?77,000.

However, the High Court award may persuade many of these people to reconsider their options.

According to legal sources, the award sets a new precedent in awarding compensation for physical abuse suffered back in 1967.

It also sets a precedent for loss of earnings with a payment of ?160,000. There is no specific compensation for loss of earnings in the redress board.

?The award for loss of earnings will make a lot of victims think twice about going to the redress board,? said one lawyer.

Separately, The Sunday Business Post has learned that a new bill to allow investigations into the roles of judges who sent children to industrial schools will be considered by the government within the next three weeks.

The bill will enable the child abuse commission to also examine the roles of politicians who ultimately decided the fate of many of the children in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ministers had the final say on applications for the admission and release of children from the industrial schools.

?The proposed legislation is going to cabinet in the next few weeks,? said Ger Butler, a spokesperson for the Department of Education.

The bill will allow the commission, headed by Justice Sean Ryan, to limit the number of investigations. More than 1,000 victims have asked for enquiries into the abuses they suffered.

Patrick Walsh, of Survivors of Child Abuse, said the proposed new powers would help to expose the state's role in sending children to the industrial schools. Many of the children suffered horrendous physical and/or sexual abuse.