THE €1.8bn asset empire

In the second part of our special investigation, we examine the property and companies of the religious order, the Sisters of Mercy.

DESPITE playing a significant part in the residential child abuse and Magdalene Laundries’ scandals the Sisters of Mercy remains one of the largest and most powerful corporate entities in the country.

Setting aside debts and obligations it is responsible for a matrix of health, education and property holdings with fixed assets worth €1.62 billion. It also has reported to owning financial investments worth €182m.

The portfolio has been pieced together from company accounts, land records and information the order supplied to the Department of Education ahead of the renegotiated redress deal.

The Irish congregation is split up into four sections. By far the largest is the South Central Province, stretching from Dublin through the Midlands and west to Limerick and Clare. Its assets include the intricate Mater Hospital group and joint trusteeship of Mary Immaculate College in Limerick.

The Southern Province encompasses Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford. The Western Province has responsibility for holding assets from Galway to Sligo and across the northern section of the Midlands.

The details available for the Northern Province were less precise because of way it filed its information and the fact it was split between jurisdictions.

The convents, houses, nursing homes and land banks are held in a variety of holding companies and in, a small number of cases, by individual sisters.

The order’s businesses are almost exclusively run as charities with properties managed by trusts committed to supporting and furthering the ideals of the congregation.

The order has given €33m to the original redress scheme and offered another €125m to revised negotiations in 2009.

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