Abuse victim’s bill could top €1bn

THE final bill for the compensation of abuse victims in religious institutions could hit €1 billion, the taxpayer’s watchdog confirmed yesterday.

In a hard hitting report into the indemnity deal struck between the Government and the religious orders, the State financial investigator revealed former Minister for Education Michael Woods went into some negotiations without legal advisors present.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, then the Attorney General, was not represented at these meetings.

When Mr McDowell requested briefings on meetings, the information was either delayed or unavailable as no notes were taken by those present.

Estimating claims and the amount of compensation, Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) John Purcell said the final bill could be between €869m and €1.04bn.

Based on an estimation that up to 10,800 claims could receive an average award of €96,600, including legal costs, the final bill would top €1bn, according to Mr& Purcell.

Yet the 18 religious orders who received an indemnity against cases being taken against them will contribute just €127m under the deal signed on the last day of the outgoing Government’s term in office.

The C&AG’s report examines in detail the tough negotiations between the religious orders, represented by the Conference of Religious in Ireland, and the Department of Education.

According to the report, the negotiations almost collapsed in October 2001 and the following month Mr Woods assumed charge of the negotiations. Along with Department of Education secretary general John Dennehy, Mr Woods put a cap on the contributions from the religious orders.

But this cap of €127m was just half of the minimum bill calculated by the Department of Education earlier that year, Mr Purcell said.

To make matters worse, the department’s estimate of the number of claimants had risen since then; Mr Purcell said if the department had used the new estimate of the average award, the minimum bill would have been calculated at €€381m.

After being left outside the negotiations, there was then a six-week delay before informing the Attorney General of the agreement struck. Mr McDowell said his office could not participate in or advise on the negotiations without the information.

It then emerged that no notes had been taken of the meetings so Mr Dennehy wrote up a memo on the negotiations conducted between November 2001 and March 2002.

Despite concerns expressed throughout the process by the Departments, of Finance and Education, and the Attorney General, the Government still agreed to the deal.

Before the deal was signed, Mr McDowell also pointed out the religious institution’s contribution might be insufficient and there was no way to renegotiate it.

The report by Mr Purcell was requested by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, which will now probe its findings later this week.