Committee to discuss Govt compo agreement

The Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee is due to meet later today to discuss the Government’s agreement to indemnify religious orders against child abuse compensation claims.

The committee will discuss the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report into the agreement, which was finalised shortly before the last Dáil was dissolved.

In his report, John Purcell criticised the deal, saying it had left the taxpayer with a potential compensation bill of up to €1bn.

He also queried why the then Attorney General, Michael McDowell, was excluded from the final negotiations on the agreement when his legal input would have been crucial.

Under the deal, the religious orders agreed to pay €128m in cash and land to the State in return for the taxpayer paying all compensation awards relating to child abuse in state-owned institutions that were run by priests, nuns and Christian Brothers.

At the time, the Government claimed the €128m would represent about half the total cost of compensation awards, but many more people have come forward to make abuse allegations in the intervening period.

The Government is now insisting that the total compensation bill will be around €500m, despite the Comptroller and Auditor General’s belief that it could be twice that amount.

Officials from the Department of Education are due to face questions on the matter before the Public Accounts Committee later today.