Orders transfer €33m in lands for abuse bill

RELIGIOUS orders have transferred half the value in properties and lands agreed as part of the abuse indemnity deal to state agencies.

So far properties valued at more than €33 million have been signed off on and accepted by the Department of Education, as part of the controversial agreement.

However, a review of their value is under way to check whether the state has been short-changed.

Under the 2002 Indemnity Agreement, religious orders agreed to hand over properties worth €66m as part of their total €128m contribution to compensate victims of institutional abuse. The religious orders are only paying an estimated 10% of the expected€1.2 billion compensation bill for victims of abuse. To date, good and marketable title has been established on 25 of the agreed 64 properties which are being transfer to the state. The total value of these properties is €33,207,855.

The latest additions to the agreed properties include Dunardagh, a Traveller site in Blackrock, south Dublin, valued at €3m, as well as St Teresa’s, Temple Hill, a care centre also valued at €3m in same area.

An extra five properties have been transferred since the beginning of the year.

Just over 50% of the total monetary value of the agreed properties has now been handed over.

Department of Education secretary general Brigid McManus told the Oireachtas public accounts committee last week by letter that the remaining 38 properties have still not been fully accepted. (One property has been paid for in cash.)

The Government’s negotiators had found “many complex title issues”, the letter obtained by the Irish Examiner reads.

Ms McManus also said a “full review” was under way on the value of the properties. The review relates to grants and funds paid by the state for renovations or improvements to properties which may have been factored into changing their value when handed over as part of the deal.

Where grants were paid, a discount applied ultimately reducing the value of the property transferred. The extent of any under-valuations is not yet known and the department’s internal audit committee is expected to its review of the valuation before the end of July.

The Labour Party last week failed to pass a private members bill, whose measures included investigating how the 2002 indemnity deal between the state and 18 religious orders concerned was negotiated.