Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has clashed with a fellow Government TD over the interpretation of the Public Accounts Committee report on the controversial indemnity deal on child abuse compensation between the State and religious orders.
Mr McDowell, who was involved as attorney general in the negotiations leading up to the deal in 2002, has previously said that he and his office were wrongly excluded from key meetings at which the deal was agreed in principle in November 2001 and January 2002.
A spokeswoman for Mr McDowell said he had examined yesterday's Pac report, which is highly critical of the way in which civil servants negotiated the deal, and that it "supports his position completely".
However, Fianna Fáil TD and Pac member Seán Fleming rejected this, saying the report showed Mr McDowell's office had been consulted properly at all times, and accused the Minister of being motivated by a dislike of the deal itself.
He said the attorney general's office had agreed to the nature and extent of the indemnity at a meeting in April 2001.
Officials should have been aware of it in early 2002, when Mr McDowell wrote to then minister for education, Michael Woods, seeking details of the indemnity, he said.
"Basically, McDowell didn't like the deal, and that's why he kicked up about it," Mr Fleming said.
He said there were many who held Mr McDowell's view but that he was at the cabinet meeting that approved the initial deal in January 2002.
Meanwhile, members of the Pac said the report, which was published yesterday, indicated a wider problem in the Civil Service where officials are failing to give proper estimates of the costs of policy decisions.
The report found that officials failed to establish a proper estimate of the potential compensation bill for former residents of industrial schools, before the establishment of the redress scheme, and entered into negotiations with the religious orders on a contribution to the scheme.
They also failed, before beginning negotiations, to establish the orders' assets or ability to pay.
In return for an indemnity against future abuse claims for six years, the orders agreed to make a contribution of €128 million.
The report found this figure was "nominal" as it included €40 million in property and €10 million in counselling services already provided to charities.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has estimated that the potential end cost of the scheme could be between €820 million and €1 billion, four times the original estimate of the Department of Education.
It has made a series of recommendations, including training for officials involved in similar negotiations in the future.
Pac chairman Fine Gael TD Michael Noonan said that "poor Government decisions" were being made as a result.
Pac deputy chairman Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness said the report also showed the State side was "outgunned at all times" during negotiations, and that in future all State negotiating teams should be at least of the same strength in terms of numbers and expertise as the opposing side.
Victims' groups also welcomed the report, but said there were fundamental issues regarding the government's behaviour in relation to the deal with the religious orders.
Colm O'Gorman of One in Four said it was a deal "that lacks in any objectivity and that is simply unjust".
"This deal is in itself a scandal, a scandal which supports the broadly held belief that successive governments, both at political and public service level, have been unable to remain objective in their dealings with the Catholic Church," he said.