Religous orders owe state more than €400m from abuse settlement [labour.ie]
- Published: 17 December 2010
New figures I have obtained in reply to a parliamentary question reveal that religious organisations owe the state almost half a billion in contributions that were promised arising from the abuse of victims in religious institutions.
The figures show that more than €26m in still outstanding from the original Indemnity Deal, negotiated by the then Minister for Education, Michael Woods, in 2002, when the congregations pledged to hand over €128 in cash and property. Furthermore of the €348m pledged in 2009, following the shocking disclosures in the Ryan Report, just €20m (6%) has been handed over.
The Fianna Fail government claimed in 2002 that the €128m would represent half of the cost of compensating victims, but as it turned out the final cost, between legal fees and compensation payments amounted to around €1.2bn.
Following the public outcry created by the Ryan Report the government quite properly asked the congregations to make additional payments and €348.51 was pledged in cash and property. The figures I have obtained show that just €20.6m in cash has been paid over and no property has been transferred.
One hundred and ten million of the money pledged in 2009 was supposed to go the Statutory Fund of Survivors of Abuse, but only €20m of has been paid over, thus further delaying support and assistance for those who suffered so horribly at the hands of members of the Religious Orders.
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