The Taoiseach yesterday rejected a storm of Opposition criticism of the church/State deal of compensating abuse victims, saying he believed it would cost far less than the €1 billion suggested in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report.
The report published yesterday revealed that the then attorney general, Mr Michael McDowell, was excluded from key negotiations about the deal. The finding is in sharp contrast with the Taoiseach's statement to the Dáil on February 11th this year that "the attorney general and his office was involved throughout the entire period".
The report led to strong Opposition condemnation of the deal for providing bad value for the taxpayer. The contribution of the religious orders has been capped at just €128 million, and they have been indemnified by the State against all future compensation claims.
While the comptroller, Mr John Purcell, said the payment of compensation to abuse victims could cost €1 billion Mr Ahern told the Dáil yesterday that "we still believe it will be far smaller".
However, the Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, condemned the deal on the grounds that Mr McDowell was left out of key negotiations; that Mr McDowell eventually warned that the contribution of the religious orders was low, and that there was no mechanism in the deal for raising it; and that the Minister for Finance was also unhappy with the size of the religious's contribution.
Mr Rabbitte said that the report found "that the total exposure of the State will be between €869 million and €1.04 billion and points out that at the time, the attorney general was excluded from involvement in the critical negotiations.
"The report published today by a constitutional officer, the Comptroller and Auditor General, is the most serious indictment of a scandalously reckless, negligent and profligate deal entered into in the name of Irish taxpayers by an Irish government, the facts surrounding which the Taoiseach attempted to cover up, deny, refute and then defend in this House," Mr Rabbitte said.
Fine Gael's education spokeswoman, Ms Olwyn Enright, said the report showed "that the government failed to adopt a robust and informed stance in the negotiations with the religious orders.
"In February 2001 the Department (of Education) estimated the upper liability at €254m. By April, it had increased that to €381m and by June, this had increased further to €508m. The Department is now estimating the total cost to be in the order of €772m.
"Despite the continuous rapid escalation in the estimated liability, it is clear from these papers that the minister for finance and the then minister for education agreed in April 2001 to accept a contribution of €127m, knowing that this bore no relationship to the actual liability which would be faced by the State.
"There was no genuine effort by the government negotiators to get a more equitable spilt. A figure was agreed on and as soon as it was reached, a settlement was secured with no regard for the possible liability of the State."