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THE religious orders' final offer to cover the cost of the residential institutional abuse scandal is more than €200m short of the contribution the government wants it to pay, the Sunday Tribune can reveal.
The orders, which were heavily criticised in the Ryan report, have made a final offer totalling €348m, more than €200m less than what is required to ensure a 50:50 contribution from church and state.
The final bill is expected to reach €1.36bn.
Department of Education officials told the government during a briefing last Tuesday that 16 of the 18 religious orders criticised in the report have made offers of further contributions to the state.
The Sunday Tribune has learned that the final €348m offer is made up of €235m in property transfers to the state, a further €111m in cash payments to be paid over five years and a €2m waiver of rents owed by the state to the orders.
This will bring the total contribution from the orders to €476m which is just over a third of the likely final bill.
While this is a substantial improvement on the initial €128m agreed as part of the controversial indemnity agreed between the church and the government in 2002, it will not satisfy those who argue the orders should foot at least 50% of the overall €1.36bn cost.
The cabinet now has to decide whether it should sign off on this offer or seek a further €200m from the Orders to bring the split up to 50:50.
It will also be looking closely at the property portfolio offered by the orders to assess their value and usefulness. It is likely to look for cash or alternative property if some of the properties do not meet the valuations that the orders have placed on them.
The overall cost of the response to residential institutional abuse scandal is now estimated to exceed €1.36bn. This is made up of the €126m cost of the Ryan commission, the €1.1bn cost of the Redress Board, €10m for indemnity counselling, €12.7m for the Education Finance Board, a body set up to provide education for victims, and a further €110m for a proposed victims' fund.
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The Pope can't have it both ways. Cardinal Sean Brady, speaking for the Pope and the bishops, told the press conference after the much touted Roime meeting, that the church would now co-operate closely with the Irish State to presumably sort out all outstanding issues regarding the rape of children by catholic priests and religious.
This was for Italian TV and was obviously NOT a true statement. The Church in Ireland is fabulously wealthy, by any standard. It holds to this wealth above all else. The needs of their raped child victims are nowhere on their top priority list, as evidenced by the legal shennanigans and outright bullying and humiliation heaped on victims seeking redress by the same church.
Their refusal to pay even half the compensation costs of their raping children and the continuing refusal of even that tiny minority of bishops, criticized by one extremely limited state enquiry, to resign or be sacked, tells the story much more truthfully than the weasel words of the cardinal or by extension, of the Pope.
We now know where we stand in the eyes of that disgraceful and fully discredited gang of paedofiles and their protectors and apologists.
When will the state take action?
When will we, with our feet?
The US Church members are refusing to make contributions to their church, for a much lower level of child rape by priests.
We should do no less and end for all time the practice of leaving property and cash to the church in wills and gifts.