The controversial agreement between the Government and the religious over abuse in residential institutions almost broke down over the issue of what properties should be included in the package, the former minister for education, Dr Michael Woods, has said.
Dr Woods said the religious congregations initially wanted to include properties transferred to the State during the previous decade in their contribution, but he suggested that only property transferred after May 1999 be included.
He said that in the period before Christmas 2001 the talks between his Department and CORI, representing the religious orders, were in danger of breaking down and the decision to include properties post-November 1999 broke the log-jam.
He said this was the only period when talks between the two sides were difficult.
He rejected claims from the Labour Party yesterday that he initiated a major policy change in this period which reduced the amount of compensation to be paid by the orders.
"I was non-adversarial about it, but May 1999 was the date of the Taoiseach's apology to the victims and I suggested this would be a reasonable way to approach matters," he said. This approach was subsequently endorsed by the Government.
He said CORI went away to consider this suggestion and later accepted this approach. Sister Elizabeth Maxwell, a CORI spokeswoman, said yesterday that the organisation had never used the issue of property transfers as a "bargaining chip" during the discussions.
She said the orders, as "productive members of society", had made extensive property transfers to the State over the years, and CORI had asked the various congregations to itemise the transfers as part of an information exercise.
They were then passed to the Government side upon request.
The indemnity agreement between the Government and CORI has attracted considerable controversy, but Dr Woods, speaking to The Irish Times, yesterday strongly defended the arrangement.
"We asked the congregations to make a contribution, and they did. It was not on the basis of apportioning blame," he said, "because that kind of process would have involved dragging the victims into it and we wanted to avoid that at all costs."
The Labour Party's education spokeswoman, Ms Jan O'Sullivan TD, said members of the last government still had questions to answer.
"Was there a fundamental change of policy in relation to the balance of financial responsibility between the State (effectively the taxpayer) and the religious congregations?" she asked.
Dr Woods, however, said the only change during his period handling the matter was in relation to what property transfers would be included.
"The financial issue and CORI's contribution of €128 million was settled much earlier by on by an interdepartmental committee," he said.
Yesterday's meeting of the Oireachtas Education Committee discussed the issue in detail with Mr Tom Boland, legal officer with the Department of Education.