Orders defy top clerics' compensation plea

Religious orders responsible for decades of shocking child abuse tonight defied the country’s most senior Catholic clerics, rejecting calls to reopen talks on a capped victims’ compensation scheme.

As garda top brass began trawling the damning Ryan report, Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin urged 18 congregations to consider rewriting the controversial deal which left the taxpayer footing a €1.2bn redress bill.