Representatives of 18 religious congregations signed the indemnity deal concluded with then minister for education and science, Dr Woods, last year.
As well as Dr Woods, it was signed by Mr John Dennehy, secretary general at the Department, and Mr Jim Caffrey, assistant secretary at the Department of Finance.
The 18 congregations, which were all involved in running residential institutions for children, are among the poorer affiliates to the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI).
They included the Sisters of Mercy, the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, the Christian Brothers, the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Presentation Brothers, the Rosminians, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge, the Sisters of St Clare, the Institute of St Louis, the Presentation Sisters, the De La Salle Brothers, the Dominicans, the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, the Brothers of Charity, and the Sisters of Nazareth.
They were represented in the negotiations primarily by Sister Elizabeth Maxwell, then secretary general of CORI, Sister Helena O'Donoghue of the Mercy Order's south central province, Brother Kevin Mullan of the Christian Brothers, and Mr Donal O'Donnell senior counsel.
The congregations were also represented by four solicitors from the Arthur Cox firm.
The Government official most frequently at meetings during the negotiations was Mr Tom Boland of the Department of Education and Science.
Colleagues from the Department attended meetings, as did civil servants from the Department of Finance, the Attorney General's office, and the Tánaiste's office.
