The controversial indemnity deal between the 18 religious orders and the State has been invoked on at least one occasion since it was signed.
Contrary to a statement given to the Public Accounts Committee by Mr John Dennehy, secretary general of the Department of Education, the State made a settlement of between 150,000 and €200,000 to a man who was sexually abused in St Joseph's Orphanage in Kilkenny in the 1970s.
Mr Dennehy had said he knew of no case where the indemnity clause had been invoked since the establishment of the Redress Board.
However The Irish Times has established that the Sisters of Charity, which ran the orphanage, invoked the indemnity in autumn of last year, less than two months before the case was due for hearing in the High Court.
The order was the main defendant in the case. However, in October its solicitors, Arthur Cox and Co, were replaced by the Chief State Solicitor's office.
Just one week before the case was due to go before public hearing, the plaintiff agreed to an out-of-court settlement of between €150,000 and €200,000. The State also insisted on a confidentiality clause.
Had the case gone ahead, it would have been the first to establish levels of liability on the part of the State and religious orders in relation to abuse in residential institutions.
In a statement to The Irish Times, Mr Dennehy acknowledged making the error.
"The secretary general was making the point at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the cost of the indemnity agreement was likely to be very low as it is expected that the vast majority of cases will be dealt with by the redress board.
"However, it was accepted by the Department at the PAC that some cases would be dealt with by the High Court," according to the statement.
"Having checked the position with the Attorney General's office the secretary general accepts that, in the nine months since the redress board started its work, one case which came within the terms of the indemnity agreement was settled out of court. It was settled well within the redress board compensation bands.
"The statement to the PAC was based on the information immediately available to the officials at the meeting."
However, it is understood that at least one senior official from the Department of Education attended a meeting to discuss settling the case.
Last July a man was awarded €70,000 against the Sisters of Charity after having been sexually abused in the grounds of the same orphanage by a care worker. The High Court found the State had no liability in the case. In this case the plaintiff was not a resident of the orphanage and as such was not covered by the Residential Redress Bill and indemnity.
During hearings it emerged that the nun in charge of the orphanage had previously received complaints from another care worker about the abusive behaviour of the worker in question.