Catholic Church denies fund deal for abuse victims

The Conference of Religious of Ireland, which represents the religious orders, has said no agreement has been reached with the Government over compensation for abuse victims.

Catholic Church sources also denied a newspaper report which said the church had agreed to pay £90 million into a special State sex abuse fund. It was claimed the fund was "part of a deal that allows religious orders to avoid being sued by many of their victims".

The secretary general of CORI, Sister Elizabeth Maxwell said she "had never heard of the £90 million". It was "never mentioned" and she did not know "where it came from". CORI is currently holding discussions with the Departments of Finance, Education, and the Attorney General's office.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said: "No such offer has been made or accepted by the Department.

"The position is the Department of Education, the Attorney General's office, the Department of Finance, and the religious are still in discussions in relation to the contribution of the religious for financial awards to people who were abused while in residential care," the spokeswoman said.

Father Martin Clarke, spokesman for the Irish Bishops' Conference, said he was "not aware of any such figure" where compensation was concerned. The situation was as outlined at a press conference on Maynooth last Wednesday, he said. There, Bishop Eamonn Walsh, chairman of the Bishops' Commission on Child Abuse, repeated a statement by the Catholic Primate, Archbishop Sean Brady, that the church would meet "all its responsibilities in the matter as determined by justice".

Sister Maxwell said yesterday's newspaper report "would appear to have come from a Government leak". She was "very annoyed" and "very surprised" at this as, by agreement, negotiations were taking place on a confidential basis until decisions were arrived at. For its part, CORI had abided by that agreement, she said, and it was why she felt constrained from discussing what was currently being negotiated with the Government.

Father Clarke expressed concern about an implication in the newspaper report that the bishops' opposition to the Government proposal excluding from compensation victims abused at day schools, outside of institutions, was part of some sort of a deal. It had nothing to do with a deal, he said, it was "a matter of principle," where the bishops were concerned.

Bishop Walsh said that on May 23rd last he had written to the Taoiseach expressing his concern at this exclusion. He received "a holding letter" in reply, he said. He also said that in discussion with the Department of Education and Science the church had expressed its anxiety about "the two-tier system evolving" when it came to compensating victims.

The State had supervisory responsibility for all schools, not just industrial schools, and "the same standards of redress and instruments of redress" should apply to victims in both, he said.