Most of Ireland's Catholic dioceses had insurance in place as far back as 1987 to cover liabilities likely to arise from clerical child sex abuse, The Irish Times has established. It has also emerged that since 1999, the bishops have had in place a €10.6 million fund to cover such claims, writes Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent
hIn a statement last night the bishops confirmed that "between 1987 and 1990 most dioceses obtained separate insurance policies from Church & General against the eventuality of legal liability accruing to a diocese from acts of child sexual abuse by priests". The cover does not apply to abuse by members of religious congregations.
The Church & General insurance company was formed by the bishops at the beginning of the last century and they still have a "nominal" share in the company. The Allianz company is now the major shareholder.
In a statement issued generally last night following detailed queries from The Irish Times e-mailed last Thursday, the bishops said "the policy cover, which did not provide protection to alleged perpetrators, was subject to strict financial limits and policy conditions." Mr Michael Nolan, Claims Director with Church & General, said last night the financial limit was £200,000 per case (€253,947), including legal costs.
He was not prepared, however, to discuss the "serious legal issues" which the bishops said arose in 1995 between them and the company "regarding the entitlement of dioceses to indemnity in respect of civil claims for damages arising from clerical child sexual abuse, under the policies of insurance then in place".
In 1996 a resolution to these "issues" was agreed on terms which "included the payment [by the company] of a single sum of £3.4 million (€4.3 million) for division among the dioceses". The bishops put the money in a trust fund, called the Stewardship Trust. It provides finance to bishops to cover legal liabilities arising from abuse claims. The trust also funds child protection and other victim response initiatives undertaken at national level by the bishops.
Trustees of the fund are the Catholic Primate, Archbishop Seán Brady, Cardinal Desmond Connell, the Archbishop of Cashel, Dr Clifford, and the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Neary. Applications to the trust go for adjudication to independent committee with a lay chairman.
In 1999 there were further negotiations between the bishops and the insurance company which resulted in Church & General agreeing "in full and final settlement" to pay the bishops "additional sums up to a maximum of £5 million (€6.3 million)" towards the cost of such claims.
No diocese is covered for child sexual abuse liabilities which accrued prior to 1996. Since 1999, each diocese is covered for incidents which took place after 1996.
Mr Nolan agreed last night that claims in such cases were handled with strict confidentiality and by a small number of senior people on both sides. This was due to the sensitivity surrounding the issue of clerical child sex abuse, he said.
He also said that it was a fairly normal condition of cover in all cases that there would be a full and open statement to the insurer of a client's known exposure to claims.
Bishops' statement: page 8