Former minister for education Dr Michael Woods has insisted that the then attorney general, Mr Michael McDowell, was "actively involved" at every relevant stage in the preparation of the indemnity deal agreed with the religious orders to compensate victims of abuse in residential institutions.
Defending his role in the deal signed just before last year's general election, Dr Woods also dismissed comments by the Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, that the deal was drafted by solicitors for the religious orders and not in the office of the attorney general.
Mr McDowell said yesterday that he was excluded by Dr Woods from the negotiations, but the former minister for education said the "Government decided on the policy, and the officer of the attorney general dealt with the indemnity".
The current Minister, Mr Dempsey, defended the agreement and the Department's approach, and said that the only way strict legal liability for the State and the orders could have been determined was by putting every case through the courts.
He pointed out that 700 cases, almost two-thirds of the people who opted to go for the confidential committee rather than have their cases investigated publicly, had been heard. He expressed his confidence that the final cost would be close to €508 million. The Comptroller and Auditor General's €1 billion estimate was a "guestimate" based on "assumptions" and "presumptions".
Mr Dempsey insisted that the Government had been "true to our word" and steadfastly committed to bringing a process of closure and healing to victims of State abuse.
Dr Woods, a deputy for Dublin North-East, said that while the final package was ready for June 5th, 2002, it was agreed in principle on January 30th that year.
"That included the indemnity, the cash and property transfers and the total figure of €128 million." The Fianna Fáil backbencher also insisted, during the day-long debate on the Laffoy Commission crisis, that the Dáil was kept fully informed about the negotiations at all times, in- cluding at committee meetings - a claim hotly contested by the Opposition.
Dr Woods accused the Opposition of seeking to "score petty points" on such a sensitive issue, on the one hand saying the victims should come first and, on the other, calling on the Government "to avoid expenditure on redressing the injury suffered by those victims".
The Labour leader, Mr Rabbitte, had said that, while Mr McDowell confirmed the exclusion of his office from the negotiations, it was a "tragedy" that he thought to do "no more" than express his unhappiness at that fact to Minister Woods.
Mr Rabbitte also accused Dr Woods of "deliberate and wilful misleading of a committee of this House" in February last year, in relation to a "secret contract concocted between himself, his secretary general and the religious congregations and their lawyers".
