It was set up after a 2014 European Court of Human Rights ruling in a case involving Cork woman Louise O’Keefe, who was the victim of sexual abuse at Dunderrow National School, Kinsale, in the early 1970s.
The scheme was then reviewed after the application process was found to be too restrictive to victims.
Education minister Norma Foley apologised, saying many children who were abused were failed by the state.
