COMMENT/Fintan O'Toole: It is sadly typical of the state of unionism that even when it seizes the high moral ground, it can't resist the temptation to use it to spit down at its traditional enemies. Last weekend, David Trimble seemed to give some hope by describing the UK to which he owes his allegiance as a "vibrant multi-ethnic, multi-national liberal democracy". He immediately spoiled the effect by contrasting it with "the pathetic sectarian, mono-ethnic, mono-ultural State to our south". The pity is that, instead of swinging about wildly, Trimble might have touched a nerve.
The Republic is not pathetic, and its mono-cultural and mono-ethnic nature is rapidly changing. But the word "sectarian" can't be shrugged off so lightly. The Republic is not sectarian in the sense that the UK, with its established church and ban on non-Protestants becoming head of state, so obviously is. It is not, in general, sectarian in the way that, say, north Belfast or Portadown are. But it is hard not to feel that the process of separating church and State has slipped disastrously backwards in the last few months.
A year ago it looked like the suffocating intimacy of church and State in the Republic was a thing of the past. While the political system seemed to have emerged from the shadow of church power, what should have marked the end was the recognition that the relationship was bad for the church itself. Last August, the Catholic Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, remarked that the church "should have learned a long time ago to use a very long spoon in dealing with government".
Since then, however, there has been evidence that the unhealthy relationship has continued, as the allure of old flames outlives the divorce. Two apparently unconnected issues - abortion on the one hand and the grim legacy of the industrial schools on the other - became politically entwined. Bertie Ahern wanted to court the conservative Catholic vote with an abortion referendum. The political point of such a referendum, however, would be negated if the church did not accept the cosmetic alterations to the traditional hardline position the Taoiseach knew he needed. So a vague process of courtship, perhaps as distant and laconic as the tic-tac of bookies at the racecourse, got under way.
WHILE this was going on, a key test of church-State relationships was emerging. Who would pay the vast sums of compensation to which the victims of appalling abuse in church-run industrial schools are entitled? The first meeting between representatives of the State and of religious congregations to discuss the church contribution to the compensation scheme was in November 2000.
After nine further meetings over the course of last year, there was an impasse, with State representatives refusing to accept the soft deal the church was seeking. Around last Christmas, however, when the Government was finalising its plans for the abortion referendum, the Minister for Education, Michael Woods, personally intervened and reached a quick agreement with the church.
The deal announced in January was that the church would contribute a cash payment of €38 million, of which €12.7 million will be placed in an educational trust for former residents of the institutions and their families; property transfers totalling €80 million; and €10 million in counselling, record retrieval and pastoral services for people in need. At the time, the deal seemed shocking. Just how shocking was not clear, however, until last month when Michael Woods appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Science. Because the meeting was mistakenly listed as a private session, it got no media coverage.
What is clear from Michael Woods's evidence to the committee is that the deal with the church is a rushed job that represents appalling value for the taxpayer. Firstly, the €12.7 million which is supposed to be part of the cash payment is no such thing. The church is to set up an educational trust which will have no statutory basis and will confer no legal entitlements on the victims. Asked who would appoint the trustees of this fund, the Minister eventually answered: "That would be a matter for the religious themselves."
Of the supposed €80 million in property transfers, meanwhile, it emerges that at least €10 million refers to transfers which have taken place anyway since 1999, for reasons that have nothing to do with compensating the victims of abuse.
THERE IS, moreover, no list of these properties and no independent valuation. As for the properties which are to be transferred in the future, it seems that no list was negotiated as part of the deal. Asked to name them, the Minister replied: "We only had some of those. We had the indicative places." Asked to give a breakdown of the €10 million for counselling, record retrieval and pastoral care - none of which can properly be regarded as compensation for the victims - the Minister replied: "I cannot as it is a matter for themselves."
What the deal actually amounts to, therefore, is about €70 million of unspecified property to be transferred to the State. In return, the State will pay out hundreds of millions for abuse inflicted by members of religious orders. This is the tangible legacy of a failed abortion referendum - a sweetheart deal that effectively gives the Church a vast amount of public money.