SOME OF the 18 religious congregations that ran residential institutions investigated by the Ryan commission have yet to respond to letters from Government requesting them to indicate what they would contribute to a new compensation fund for former residents of the institutions.
On July 28th last the Government said it expected the congregations would offer a substantial contribution by way of reparation for the suffering of children in the institutions.
It sent the statement to leaders of the relevant congregations, with attention specifically drawn to this contribution aspect.
When some congregations did not respond to that statement, Taoiseach Brian Cowen wrote to the congregations in September requesting that their offer be forwarded to the Minister for Education as soon as possible.
Then, on October 22nd last, Brigid McManus, secretary general at the Department of Education, again wrote to congregations with a similar request.
However, a spokeswoman for the department has told The Irish Timesthat "while responses have been received from some congregations, the position is that a full set of responses from all the congregations is awaited".
Meanwhile, a panel set up by the Government at the end of July to assess details of the congregations’ financial position, submitted to Government in the summer, has completed its work.
The panel was chaired by Frank Daly, former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners.
It was to report to Government on the adequacy of the financial statements from the congregations as a basis for assessing their resources.
That report is now “under examination prior to being submitted to the Government”, the Department of Education spokeswoman said.
