The Department of Education said last night it was awaiting a response to a request for more than €7 million in cash from religious orders in lieu of property contributions due under a controversial deal which awarded them an indemnity against compensation claims relating to abuse in residential institutions.
The secretary general of the Department of Education, Mr John Dennehy, told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee on Thursday that 62 properties, valued at around €71 million, had so far been handed over by religious congregations to the State.
He said the Department of Education had rejected a further 20 properties and had now proposed that the orders should provide a cash sum to finalise this element of the agreement.
Under the terms of the agreement with the Government, 18 religious congregations were to hand over property worth €76.8 million in addition to around €40 million in cash.
The new proposals from the Department of Education would see the religious congregations paying over a further €7 million to the State in lieu of property. The congregations have already paid the €40 million cash element of the agreement.
Mr Dennehy said he was confident this aspect of the agreement would be finalised in the near future.
The Department of Education told The Irish Times last night that it had put the proposals to the religious congregations and was awaiting a response. A spokeswoman for the religious orders was unavailable last night.
Meanwhile the committee was also told that lawyers in three cases taken by victims of abuse in residential institutions, which were settled out of court, collectively received the equivalent of up to 80 per cent of the amount awarded to the plaintiffs.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, said three cases had to date been settled by the State for a total of €380,000, under the terms of the indemnity provided to the religious congregations by the Government.
He said that on average the legal fees were working out at around €100,000 for each case.
Mr Dennehy said the Department of Education believed the total cost of the State compensation scheme for victims of institutional child abuse would be around €610 million.
This estimate is substantially less than the figure forecast by the Comptroller and Auditor General last year.
"I believe that the estimate of €508 million that was provided to Government as the possible cost of awards under the redress scheme in May 2002 was a realistic assessment of the possible cost, based on the information available at the time. I still believe this to be the case today," Mr Dennehy said.
"Indeed if one applies to this original figure the legal and administrative costs of 20 per cent currently being incurred by the board, the total projected costs rise to €610 million, a figure that falls within the range of €605-€650 million estimated by the Redress Board [ which makes the compensation awards] itself in its annual report," he said.
However, Mr Dennehy said the final cost might not be known until some time in 2007.
