Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 435: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the steps she has taken to implement the arrangements made with the Roman Catholic Church regarding the transfer of property to the State in return for the State accepting liability to discharge all payments due on foot of compensation claimed by victims of sexual abuse in residential institutions; the property so acquired; the parts of the agreement that awaits implementation; and the present value of the property so acquired by the State or the moneys realised to date from the sale of such property. [23461/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the terms of the Indemnity Agreement between Church and State which was concluded in June 2002, the congregations concerned agreed to make a contribution of €128 million towards the Redress Scheme. This was broken down as follows: Cash Contributions — €41.14m; Provision of Counselling Services — €10m; and Property Transfers — €76.86m.

The cash and counselling contributions, totalling €51.14m have been received in full. Agreement in principle has been reached with the religious congregations on the transfer of 64 properties. Property transfers to the value of €66m and cash in lieu of property in the sum of €10.7m to a total value of approximately €76.7 million have also been agreed, with the balance of €160,000 yet to be settled.

In relation to the transfer of legal title of property, the Chief State Solicitors Office is liaising with individual solicitors to verify good and marketable title in each case. In the event that good and marketable title cannot be established for a particular property due to be transferred under the Agreement, the contributing congregation will be requested to make a cash payment or to provide an alternative replacement property.

Valuations have been determined for all 64 properties contributed by the religious under the Agreement, some of which were settled following independent valuation under the terms of the Agreement. Valuations are set at values applying on 5th June 2002, the date on which the Agreement was signed. The fact that property values may have increased since then does not effect the value of the property as determined by the Agreement so the issue of the present value of the properties does not arise. Properties received under the terms of the Indemnity Agreement are transferring to a variety of public bodies including the HSE and the Department of Education & Science, local authorities and a number of voluntary organisations. The benefit to the State lies in the fact that such properties can be developed and used by the bodies concerned for various health, educational and other social purposes. The current and future use of these properties is a matter for each of the transferees. In relation to properties accepted in principal by my Department these will be used to develop school provision.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 436: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the sum paid out by the State to date in respect of claims taken by victims of sexual abuse in residential institutions and in particular the sums paid out directly as a result of a decision by the redress board and the High Court on appeal from the redress board; and the number of such applications to the redress board and appeals to the High Court at present awaiting hearing. [23462/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Residential Institutions Redress Unit was established under Statute in 2002. Its primary function is to provide financial redress to victims of child abuse in residential institutions in order to assist them in their recovery and to enhance the quality of the remainder of their lives. I wish to advise the Deputy that the sum paid out by the State to date in respect of claims taken by victims of abuse in residential institutions is just over €720 million, made up of €714 million associated with the Redress Board and approximately €6 million associated with claims to the High Court. The Redress Board has completed the process in 9276 cases out of a total of 14546 applications received.

Under the terms of the Residential Institutions Redress Act, 2002, where a former resident is not satisfied with the level of award offered, s/he may reject the offer and submit an appeal to the Review Committee for a review of the amount of the award. The Review Committee and its members are independent in the performance of their duties. Once the Review Committee has made its offer, the former resident must then decide whether to accept or reject the offer. If the person accepts the offer, they must then undertake not to initiate any proceedings in respect of the same matter. On the other hand, if they reject the offer, then it is their statutory right to explore other legal avenues which may be open to them.

The Redress Board is independent in the performance of its functions and the appeal mechanism built into that process is in the form of an application for a review of the initial award submitted to the Review Committee. The Act itself is very specific in preserving and upholding the confidentiality aspect of the application process. To this end, where a person initiates legal proceedings against the State, it is generally not known by my Department whether that person has been through the Redress Board process and has rejected an offer made by that Board. Consequently, my Department does not have access to any statistics vis-À-vis persons who may have initiated High Court proceedings following rejection of a Redress Board award.