Religious orders not planning to revisit abuse deal

The Conference of Religious in Ireland says its members have no plans to re-examine the deal agreed with the Government on compensation for victims of child abuse.

In 2002, 18 congregations who ran institutions where children were abused agreed to pay €128m towards the Redress Scheme put in place by the Government.

The scheme has already cost more than €1.1bn and critics say the religious orders should be paying much more of this sum.

Yesterday, several government ministers gave mixed messages about whether the deal could be re-examined.

CORI, however, says that - as far as it is aware - none of the congregations plan to revisit the agreement.

But Fianna Fail TD for Dublin North East Michael Woods told Newstalk this morning it is an avenue open to them.

Woods, education minister at the time the agreement was made with the Catholic Church in 2002, says the deal was the best that could be done, as the government wasn't going to put victims through a court ordeal.