IRELAND
Irish Times
Pamela Duncan
Sat, Sep 6, 2014
Religious congregations have paid less than a quarter of the €352.6 million which they had agreed to contribute to redress for victims of institutional abuse, internal documents in the Department of Education reveal.
The documents, published yesterday under the Freedom of Information Act, give an overview of the payments made by 18 congregations to date.
Following the publication of the Ryan report (the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse) in May 2009 the congregations agreed to pay €352.61 million in addition to €128 million committed to under a 2002 indemnity agreement. The €352.61 million comprised €108.6 million in cash, €238 million in property and €6 million in payments for counselling, the latter of which has been fulfilled.
The briefing documents, prepared for Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan who took up her post in July, reveal that €71.6 million in cash has now been received.
Of the €238 million in property offers, €0.2 million worth has been transferred to date while some property offers were not accepted by the Government. The congregations were asked to sell some properties and provide cash, some €4.2 million of which has been received to date.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.