Child Abuse
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TAXPAYERS are facing a €1.3bn payout for compensation to victims of abuse by members of religious orders.
Government ministers, including Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, have previously rubbished estimates that the widely criticised legal deal with religious orders would leave taxpayers with a bill for up to €1bn.
But last night it emerged that the Department of Education now accepts the final figure may be even more than the €1bn 'worst case scenario' suggested by the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Purcell.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will be told today that a footnote from the Secretary General of the Department to its annual accounts says the amount spent up to the end of 2005 is €377m but it is now anticipated a further €950m will have to be provided.
PAC Chairman Michael Noonan said the latest figures put forward by the Department of Education were well beyond the original estimate of €254m in 2001.
"We are now looking at a figure that is even considerably higher than the €1bn suggested by the Comptroller and that figure was derided by the government at the time," he added.
The massive bill now looming flies in the face of assurances given to the Dail by the Taoiseach in February 2003 when he dismissed the prospect of the final bill reaching €1bn.
At the time the Taoiseach rejected claims the deal demonstrated "reckless negligence" and incompetence by his government.
Mr Ahern told the Dail: "We do not know exactly how many people will lodge claims.
"We anticipate that it will be in the region of 3,000 but it could increase to 5,000. People are talking about higher figures but we do not think that in monetary terms it will reach anything like €1bn."
Now, however, the Department of Education is confirming that up to the end of 2005 the Redress Board dealt with 4,625 applications from a total of 14,541.
In a statement last night the department said the cost of the scheme is much higher because the level of applications has exceeded their expectations.
In the closing days of the 2002 Fianna Fail-PD coalition the government closed a deal with religious orders giving them a controversial State-guaranteed legal indemnity against any future court claims from abuse victims.
This was in exchange for the orders making a contribution of €128m from their own resources to a compensation scheme.
Then Education Minister Dr Michael Woods and the Taoiseach Mr Ahern repeatedly rejected opposition claims that this amounted to a "sweetheart" deal with the religious orders that would expose taxpayers to a massive bill.