Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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335. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost to date of the institutional child abuse redress scheme; and the contributions to the scheme disaggregated by religious order and amounts still owing, in tabular form. [34539/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The 18 religious congregations involved in the management of most of the residential institutions in which child abuse took place have made contributions towards the costs incurred by the State in responding to that abuse under two rounds: the legally binding 2002 Indemnity Agreement and the voluntary offers made in 2009 in the aftermath of the publication of the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (the “Ryan Report”).

While the total cost of the State’s response will be in the region of €1.5 billion, the amounts offered by congregations total €480.6 million.

Some €125 million of the €128 million provided for under the 2002 Indemnity Agreement has been contributed, with the transfer of two properties remaining to be fully completed. The cash and counselling contributions received under the Agreement, amounting to some €65 million, were made on a collective basis and accordingly it is not possible to identify the amounts paid by individual congregations. The agreed value of the properties transferred, or to be transferred, under the 2002 Agreement, disaggregated by congregation, is set out in the following table.

2002 Indemnity Agreement Properties - Total per Congregation

The offers made in the aftermath of the publication of the Ryan Report in 2009 included cash, properties, and contributions in kind, and were valued by the congregations at €352.6 million. However, when account is taken of offers not accepted, changes in the valuation of the properties offered and the value of properties offered but not being reckoned as a contribution, the total value of the voluntary offers achievable will be lower than the amount of €352.6 million offered.

To date, cash contributions of approximately €111.53m have been received from the congregations, and are set out in the following table.

2009 Voluntary Offers Cash Contributions Received 28.06.21

The following should be noted –

- the contribution of €10m from the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul is comprised of cash of €9.95m, plus a site valued at €0.05m which was transferred to the Department of Education for use in a school building project.

- the contribution of €5m from the Sisters of Charity is comprised of cash of €2m, plus €3m in waived legal costs from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA),

- the contribution of €4.6m from the Presentation Brothers is comprised of €4m in cash, plus refunded CICA legal costs of €0.6m.

Only one cash contribution is outstanding under the 2009 offers, and will arise from the disposal of a site by the Sisters of Mercy. The site is currently in use to provide access to an ongoing school building project in Cahir, Co. Tipperary, and will be disposed of once this project is completed.

With regard to properties offered under the 2009 offers, 15 properties offered by the Sisters of Mercy were not accepted by the State and were instead transferred to the community and voluntary sector. Only one of these properties, valued at €0.2m, was reckoned as a contribution by the State.

In addition, a further 17 properties offered by the Sisters of Mercy were to be disposed of, and the proceeds to be provided as a cash contribution. These contributions are reflected in the above table.

A further 18 properties were accepted by the State for transfer, and 16 of these transfers are now complete. Two transfers under the 2009 offers remain outstanding.

2009 Voluntary Offers Properties - Total per Congregation

The following should be noted in relation to these properties –

- the valuations ascribed to the transferred properties are the open market valuations of each property at time of transfer.

- the total valuation of €4.515m ascribed to the transferred Sisters of Mercy properties reflects the combined value of 13 properties, as one valuation remains in progress.

- valuations remain in progress for the properties transferred by the Presentation Sisters and the Sisters of St Clare.

- valuations of the two properties which have not yet fully transferred will be undertaken once the transfer are complete.

Therefore, the total contribution received to date from the congregations under the 2009 voluntary offers is approximately €116.24m, as set out in the following table.

In addition to the above, the Christian Brothers is in the process of transferring its portfolio of playing fields, which it values at €127m, to the Edmund Rice Schools Trust under an arrangement whereby the State will receive 50% of the proceeds arising from the future disposal of any of those properties. The congregation has recently informed the Department that a number of transfers have now been completed, and the Congregation has engaged legal and technical consultants to progress the remaining transfers as a priority.