RELIGIOUS orders negotiators admitted yesterday they got a good deal when the Government capped their contribution to the compensation scheme for victims of institutional abuse at just €127 million.

THE Government capitulated to pressure from religious congregations by allowing them to escape with a fraction of the contribution it originally sought in the compensation scheme for abuse victims.

THE Attorney General must examine the controversial deal signed between the Church and State to compensate victims of sex abuse in religious institutions, the Labour Party insisted yesterday.

FREE Catholic education could become a thing of the past if trusts replacing religious orders who pull out of hundreds of secondary schools are not run properly.

A retired woman judge was today confirmed as the head of an independent inquiry established by the Catholic Church to look into child sex abuse by the clergy and action taken in response by the authorities.

The organisation representing 150 religious orders is to co-operate with the Catholic Church’s independent audit into clerical child sex abuse.

Catholic bishops are still drawing up plans for the Church’s internal audit of child abuse allegations.

Religious denominations have announced that they will give €128m to the Government’s redress scheme for victims of child abuse in residential institutions.