The Residential Institutions Redress Board has to date paid out €156.3m to the victims of abuse in church-managed and state-supervised institutions, the Dáil Public Accounts Committee has heard.
There have been 4,725 claims to the board and 2,017 have been successful, with claims averaging €77,500.
Almost 50 claims are being made every week, and the board is going to accept applications until December 2005.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, John Purcell, said the total cost of claims could run to €828m.
However, the Department of Education expects the final cost to be less than €650m.
