€1bn bill for abuse payouts rejected

THE Government yesterday rejected claims it had signed a secret deal with the Catholic Church over child sex abuse compensation that could cost the taxpayer up to €1 billion.

It also defended giving certain religious groups a blanket indemnity against future litigation from victims of child abuse in their residential care in return for a contribution of €124 million.

“There was nothing secret about the agreement, it was distributed to the media in June - it is impossible to speculate how much the compensation will cost the State because the hearings have not even started yet,” a Department of Education spokesman said.

He was responding to an Irish Independent claim that the State had signed a secret deal with CORI - the group representing 12 religious groups who ran residential institutions for children - which could cost up to 1 billion.

Former Labour Education spokeswoman, Roisin Shortall said she was the source of that figure and was standing by it.

“It is estimated that at least 3,500 abuse victims will seek compensation and the average recommended awards are between €50,000 and €70,000,” said Deputy Shortall.

Under the deal agreed with the religious, the State will pay the vast bulk of the compensation to victims, with the 12 Contributing Congregations only paying €14.14 million in cash and the remainder of their contributions in land transfers which are questionable.

In return for this payment, the Contributing Congregations will get a blanket indemnity from any future litigation from any victim of child abuse in their residential care.

“The Taoiseach apologised to the victims of child abuse in residential institutions on May 11 last year and accepted they had been wronged and should be compensated,” a Department of Education spokesman said yesterday.

The State was going to compensate them, with or without the Church's contribution, because many of them had been put into residential institutions by the courts, he added.

Under the Michael Woods - CORI agreement signed last June, it was agreed that a Residential Institutions Redress Board would be set up to hear cases of alleged child abuse and make financial awards. This was only set up legally on December 16, 2002.

If an abuse victim is not happy with the award they get from the Board they can appeal it to the Residential Institutions Redress Review Committee.

And if they are not happy with their decision they can take their case to the courts.