The assets of some of the country's main religious congregations could be made public by the Government within the month. The Department of Education has confirmed that it expects a report on the financial statements submitted by the 18 religious congregations dealt with in the Ryan Report by the end of the month.
A three-person independent panel has since been assessing the means to discern a suitable contribution for the reparation to victims of industrial schools run by those congregations.
In a parliamentary question last month, that went unreported, Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe said: ''I understand that the panel is well advanced in its work and expects to be in a position to report before the end of October. It is intended that the conclusions of the panel will be made public.''
Mr O'Keefe also said the Government had circulated a letter to the congregations highlighting that they should ''be working to produce an offer of a substantial contribution'' in the interim.
However, the October date could prove optimistic, as a source told The Irish Catholic that all congregations had yet to meet with the panel to discuss their finances.
Following a meeting with the Government in June, the congregations agreed to make further contributions to the reparation to the victims of the industrial schools.
The concession was made following public outrage at the limited liability of the congregations under a 2002 institutional redress deal which resulted in congregations paying just €127m of an estimated €1.3bn compensation bill, eventually footed by the taxpayer.
The largest of this came from the Christian Brothers and the Presentation Sisters who run hundreds of schools in the country.
The congregations' ability to continue their support of those schools would be considered in any offer.
Among the members of the panel are Frank Daly, former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners; Catherine Treacy, chief executive of the Property Registration Authority; and John Donnelly, former chairman of Deloitte and Touche, chartered accountants.
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