IRELAND
One in Four
by Gordon Deegan – Irish Examiner
The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh confirmed yesterday that the diocese paid out over a quarter of a million euro last year in the compensation for the pas sexual abuse of children by priests.
In publishing the diocese’s annual accounts for 2003, Bishop Walsh confirmed that a total of 265,000 euro was paid to two victims of sexual abuse last year.
A spokesman for the diocese is in the process of making a payment to a third victim. He declined to say how much had been paid to each victim, saying the bishop did not wish to comment on individual cases.
The vase proportion of the monies paid to the two victims came from a general church trust fund, the Stewardship Trust, established by the Irish Catholic Bishops to cover claims of clerical sex abuse. The accounts show that the trust paid 252,622 euro while the diocese paid 79,981 euro towards the trust in 2003.
Posted by kshaw at December 23, 2004 12:49 PM