By John Cooney and Breda Heffernan
Tuesday February 09 2010
A LETTER calling on the Vatican to provide a €1bn compensation package for survivors of clerical child abuse in Ireland is to be hand delivered to Pope Benedict by Cardinal Sean Brady, when the Irish bishops hold summit talks with the Pontiff.
The letter from Irish survivors will also contain a request for a meeting with the Holy Father during his visit to England in September.
The breakthrough came at private talks in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, yesterday involving four survivors’ groups, Cardinal Brady and bishops.
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, who on Sunday told the Irish Independent that he was engaged in his own consultations with survivors abused by diocesan priests, did not attend the Maynooth meeting because of other engagements.
But Dr Martin was present at the first meeting last December in Maynooth between the four groups representing survivors of abuse in residential institutions run by religious orders, and has voiced his support for a bigger compensation deal.
A statement after yesterday’s meeting said that four bishops — Colm O’Reilly of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, John McAreavey of Dromore, John Buckley of Cork and John Fleming of Killala — would liaise with the survivors’ representatives.
Attending the Maynooth talks were representatives of the Alliance Support Group, Irish SOCA, and the Right to Peace and Right of Place groups.
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