Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Yes, the taxpayers will pay for it, as they did for Army deafness and other issues. Let us be honest about the point at which Deputy Rabbitte and I differ on this matter. He believes I should have taken the money from the church but I do not. I do not believe the church should have coughed up another €500 million. I accept Deputy Rabbitte's view and he should accept mine. The Irish church does not have those resources. I was not prepared to go down that road, nor am I prepared to do so now. Some 14,000 people who were abused in institutions have applied to the Residential Institutions Redress Board. We all thought there were 5,000 such people at one stage but then the figure rose to 7,500, then 8,000 and later 9,000. If the figure is 14,000, so be it.

What happened in those days is sad. The Deputy may argue that they should not be paid or that we should take land off the churches, but that is not a road I would go down.

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