Sisters for Mercy made €165m from sales

DESPITE offloading over €670 million worth of land during the property boom, the religious orders at the centre of the redress re-negotiations retained €3.1 billion in property assets.

Even after two years of slumping property prices, the portfolios of the 18 congregations showed a substantial asset base when they were assessed in mid-2009. Many of these sites continue to raise revenue by selling services to the state.

Three of the four orders that ran the notorious Magdalene laundries have earned €86m from the Heath Service Executive in the past five years.