IRELAND
The Sunday Business Post
06 March 2005 By Kieron Wood
Ireland's Catholic Bishops will meet in Maynooth next week to decide how best to raise new funds to meet the expected €50 million bill for clerical sex abuse victims.
Nine years ago, the bishops set up the Stewardship Trust Fund to compensate victims of clerical sex abuse. The trust, which is run by the Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, Dublin and Tuam, received an initial €4.3 million from the Catholic Church's insurers, Church & General.
Three years later, the insurer agreed to pay up to a further €6.3 million into the trust. Existing funds are now about to run out because of the volume of claims and Allianz insurance is shortly expected to top up the fund with “several million euro'‘ to meet new claims.