EIGHTEEN RELIGIOUS orders criticised in the Ryan commission child abuse report will have to fully detail their assets to the Government before a deal is struck on how much extra compensation they should pay.
A joint meeting of representatives of the 18 orders and Taoiseach Brian Cowen will take place early next week.
The Department of Education said yesterday the religious congregations that negotiated an indemnity deal with the government in June 2002 have fully transferred 21 properties worth €26.8 million to State agencies to date.
A further 40 properties are in the process of being transferred, while cash contributions of €52 million and services worth €10 million have been delivered in full.
The deal was for €127 million in total, a small fraction of the overall redress bill, which is expected to reach €1.3 billion.
Speaking in the Dáil, Mr Cowen said: “I do not have a preconceived notion of what is adequate. I must see the full resources available to these congregations in order to make that judgment.”
However, he said he would place “an onus on them to outline, in a transparent way, what resources they have available, and the contribution they intend to make”.
Minister for the Environment and Green Party leader John Gormley said the Government would consider introducing legislation to force disclosure if the orders failed to comply.
Fr Seán Healy of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (Cori) Justice made his first public comment on the controversy yesterday, saying religious congregations implicated in the child abuse scandal should make “substantial additional resources” available to the redress scheme.
He apologised at an Oireachtas committee for the “appalling” abuse carried out by members of 18 of Cori’s 138 member congregations.
Speaking to journalists afterwards, Fr Healy said it would be “fair” for the congregations to fund 50 per cent of the controversial 2002 redress deal.
Ten of the orders, led by the Christian Brothers, have issued statements indicating a willingness to increase their contributions.
Those accepting the Taoiseach’s invitation to talks yesterday included the Sisters of St Clare, the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Good Shepherd Sisters, and the Oblate Order.
Increasing pressure on the others, Minister for Education and Science Batt O’Keeffe, said: “There is a moral and social imperative for them to face up to their responsibilities.”
A final decision on the level of proof required about the orders’ assets has not been made, but it could require audits, or examinations by the Charities’ Commissioners.
Large tracts of land have been sold by many orders over recent years, but the orders, because they are charities, would have had to get approval on each from the Charities’ Commissioners.
Such approval is not given unless the Commissioner is satisfied with the way orders plan to use the money raised by land sales, which have raised hundreds of millions, it is believed.
So far, a number of members of Cabinet have offered different opinions about what should happen to extra money from the congregations.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said it should not be used to “alleviate” the bill already paid by the State, but the Taoiseach said that some of it could be used to compensate victims still to be dealt with by the Residential Institutions Redress Board.
However, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan offered a third option yesterday, saying that “you cannot rule out the State receiving support as well for what we have already put in”.Mr Lenihan was absolutely firm in his declaration that the Government and not the religious orders would decide how the extra compensation is spent.
“The first point to state is this: any funds provided by the church – the State should decide how they are spent. That is the first point,” he told The Irish Times.
Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews has been given until the end of July to produce a plan to implement the 24 childcare recommendations made by Judge Seán Ryan.
