The Government's decision to indemnify religious brothers and nuns against child abuse compensation claims is to be investigated by the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Due to begin in March, the investigation may hear testimony from the current Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, his predecessor, Dr Michael Woods, senior Department of Education and Science officials and leading religious figures.
In June 2002, 18 religious congregations agreed with Dr Woods that they would contribute €128 million, including €78.5 million worth of land, to the body responsible for compensating victims, and face no more risk.
Last night, the deputy chairman of the PAC, Fianna Fáil TD, Mr John McGuinness, said there is mounting concern about the size of the bill that could now face the Exchequer.
The High Court last week ordered the Dublin Catholic Archdiocese to pay in excess of €300,000 to Mr Mervyn Rundle, who had been abused as a child by a priest, Father Tom Naughton.
The Residential Institutions Redress Board can pay up to €300,000 and more, to people abused in industrial schools and similar homes run by brothers and nuns, though it does not cover cases involving priests.
"We could be talking about €300,000 a case, and multiples of them. The Government has taken on the huge brunt of the risk. It seems that the Minister at the time was more than lenient," said Mr McGuinness.
However, Department of Education sources remained confident that the majority of cases would be settled for tens of thousands, rather than hundreds of thousands of euro.
The weightings to be used by the redress board to award compensation were drawn up by a barrister, Mr Sean Ryan, who consulted widely within the Law Library, and elsewhere, before he published them, said one source.
Led by Fine Gael Sligo/Leitrim TD, Mr John Perry, the Public Accounts Committee has now sought a full briefing on the complicated deal from the Department of Education and Science.
Mr Dempsey, said there is "no scope within the agreement" for the congregations to increase their contribution if the bill exceeds expectations.
"The Government's initial decision to set up the scheme was made regardless of whether the religious congregations concerned would contribute," he declared, in a written Dáil answer.
So far, the congregations have transferred €40.3 million worth of land to the State, though negotiations about the remaining lands are still underway between the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) and the Department.
