Committee on Finance and Public Service: An Oireachtas Committee yesterday questioned whether the State would acquire the full €128 million contribution from the religious congregations to the compensation scheme for child abuse victims.
Religious congregations agreed to pay €128 million to the State as their contribution towards the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme. Part of the agreement was for the congregations to transfer property to the value of €80 million to the State.
Yesterday, criticisms by members of the Joint Committee on Finance and Public Service centred on the property agreement and the lack of information to date about how transfers were progressing.
Department of Finance principal officer, Ms Ann Nolan, told the committee that her department did not have information on the property part of the agreement. The Department of Education had the main role.
The committee chairman, Mr Seán Fleming TD (FF), said he was personally disappointed the Department of Education had been seeking time extensions in relation to the transfers.
"I'm critical of them taking so long. This committee is sending out the message that we are not satisfied that the State's investment is being protected and being brought to a conclusion."
Ms Nolan said the original cost of the scheme was £200 million and a cap of £100 million on the religious institutions had come from that on the basis of a 50/50 liability at the time.
Ms Nolan said the estimates now on the cost of the scheme were a very broad range from €250 million to €500 million.
"I can assure you that every effort is being made to ensure we do get the €128 million," she said.
There were on-going discussions about various properties which had to be valued and assessed as to whether they had value to the State. Agreement had not yet been reached, she said.
Properties had not been transferred. "It's proving longer than anyone expected. There are all kinds of technical issues slowing it down," she said.
Mr Richard Bruton TD (FG) asked: "Will the taxpayer see the €128 million? What we're hearing today is quite extraordinary, we're talking about historic costs."
The lands they were talking about were encumbered with tenants, with schools, hospital beds, boards of management, trusts, he said. "This is an issue about financial accountability that the tax-payer is getting the deal the State said it would get," he said.
Ms Joan Burton TD (Lab) said the Department of Finance statement was incomplete as it did not give a list of the properties being discussed and their valuations.