Church redress deadline queried

The chairman of a Dáil committee has said he does not believe the Catholic Church will hand over hundreds of millions of euro in abuse compensation to the State by Christmas.

Members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) called into question the sincerity of 18 Church congregations involved in abuse, just weeks after Pope Francis’ apology to Ireland, saying they have been hearing the same claim from the Catholic Church for more than a decade.