CORI says abuse fund package is `far in excess' of £40m

The Irish religious orders have presented a package to the Government including a proposed contribution towards a compensation fund for victims of abuse in institutions.

The secretary general of the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI), Sister Elizabeth Maxwell, said yesterday that negotiations with the Government were continuing, and that the compensation figure proposed by the orders was "far in excess" of the £40 million suggested by one newspaper report yesterday.

She said she did not feel free to disclose details of the package as it was agreed by both parties that the content of negotiations would be confidential. This was at the instigation of the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, before the beginning of the negotiations last November.

She expressed surprise that Government sources were quoted for the second time within a month on the negotiations and, for the second time, had supplied wrong information to the media. A front-page newspaper report on June 13th had claimed CORI had agreed to pay £90 million towards the compensation fund. Sister Elizabeth said then she had never heard of that figure and had no idea where it had come from.

Last night she said that "at this stage the Government has broken faith twice" where confidentiality was concerned.

She also quoted an elderly religious who wondered why it was the case that the role of religious who managed the institutions was always spoken of in negative terms, while the role of the State and its agents, "who were responsible for the welfare of residents in those institutions", was so rarely mentioned.

She said those observations "regrettably, seem to be an accurate representation of such views," among religious.

Figures for the total compensation fund for victims abused in institutions have been put at between £100 and £400 million, but will not be known accurately until all claims have been entered.