It is fascinating to watch Michael McDowell attempting to distance himself from the compensation scheme for former residents of institutions by claiming that he was excluded from vital negotiations. Funny, before this he never looked like an individual that it would be easy to exclude from anything, writes Breda O'Brien.
Perhaps the Minister would like to let us know now what other deals or legislation he has been excluded from, and what else he has serious concerns about? Mind you, such claims might have more credibility if he made them before, rather than after, they become potentially politically damaging.
Michael McDowell knows as well as anyone, and better than some, why the deal was agreed by the Cabinet. The deal reflects a Fianna Fáil core value which increasingly appears to be a Progressive Democrats value, too.
The value is pragmatism. The Government wanted the scandal of residential institutions put to rest, instead of erupting every few months to spew all over them again. They knew that they had two options.
They could either agree a deal with the religious congregations, or the Government could pay compensation in full and then counter-sue the congregations. The latter option would result in the cases going to court, where the standard of evidence would be much higher than it currently is under the Residential Redress Scheme.
There was every possibility that the pay-out from suing the congregations would be relatively modest in the end, certainly nothing like the €127 million now on the table. The greatest beneficiaries would not be survivors, but legal firms which would once again pocket substantial fees in protracted court cases.
In the process, the Government would be suing organisations that are, though greatly diminished in numbers, still important partners in health, education and the social services.
If facing financial ruin, it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that the current orderly withdrawal from many of those services by the congregations would be greatly speeded up, leaving the State with even bigger gaps to plug than it has at the moment.
This is a nightmare scenario, given that those services are already staggering along now that congregations no longer prop them up by ploughing not only their time but their salaries into them.
The core value of Fianna Fáil may be pragmatism, but it is rarely unmingled with at least a few shreds of decency.
It wanted to do the right thing by survivors, and to ensure that many of those who would be statute-barred or unable to secure redress through the courts for other reasons would receive some compensation.
The Government was also aware that the current leadership of the congregations was not responsible for the residential institutions, because the majority of such places closed in the 1970s.
The current leadership is carrying the can for what was done in the past, and to a large extent it is being scapegoated both for the indifference of Irish people to the plight of the children whom no one wanted, and the disgraceful level of neglect by the State.
This is not to exonerate the congregations for the many failures which impacted on the lives of the most vulnerable.
However, the Government knows that the resources of the congregations are today being ploughed into the areas which no one else wants to tackle.
Ask journalists working in the area of social affairs, and they will tell you that when it comes to advocacy for the homeless, asylum-seekers, prostitutes, the drug-addicted, the poorest of the poor, there you will find members of religious orders working flat out.
Yet these are the same people who are being asked to divert resources from these services in order to fund more of the Residential Redress Scheme.
Bertie Ahern asked during the week what purpose would be served by bankrupting the congregations. His words were not mere rhetoric.
Writing in this newspaper last year, Sister Helena O'Donoghue, one of the negotiators for the congregations, stated that it was impossible for them to pay more without jeopardising services.
Given the ugly mood of retribution in the country, it is likely that the public would be sceptical about this.
The 18 congregations in question own an impressive amount of land and property, probably amounting to eye-popping figures.
Incidentally, contrary to accepted mythology, much of this property was accumulated not from donations by the general Catholic population, but from the frugal and careful husbandry of the dowries of the droves of men and women who once entered religious life.
This week the congregations are being urged to present an audit of what they own, and more importantly, how much of it is disposable. Following this advice would serve two purposes.
Firstly, it might reveal that there are properties available which could be added to the current pot for compensation. Secondly, if it turns out that very little of the property can be disposed of without serious damage to present-day services, it might finally silence their detractors.
My hunch is that the congregations believe that nothing short of their complete annihilation will satisfy some of the most influential commentators.
They fear that, if they did publish the evidence, it would be the global figures of what they own that would be seized upon and used to fuel more righteous indignation on the part of the public.
There is only one way to prevent such a backlash happening, and that is to come out and present the case robustly to the public.
Tell us about what you are doing. Tell us about the crippling burden of providing for elderly men and women who gave their lives in service to the community, while the numbers of religious earning salaries shrink by the day.
Ask us whether we would prefer to lose services to the elderly, or the mentally handicapped, or drug-addicted teenagers, because these are the choices which will have to be made if more money has to be paid.
Give us a chance to hear your side of the story, instead of worrying that the time is not right, that it will be seen as defending the indefensible.
There are monumental blots on the record of congregations in Ireland, but the record still stands. It is about time some of the congregations started putting the record straight.