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THE Diocese of Ferns is facing a cash crisis over the huge cost of meeting sexual abuse compensation claims.The Government is still to settle a €2.7m legal bill and other costs.
Diocesan Finance Officer Eugene Doyle claims the situation is a major obstacle in the planned solution to paying outstanding settlements.
After the Ferns and Birmingham inquiries, Mr Justice Frank Murphy said the Diocese of Ferns should get its legal costs. The then Minister for Health asked for the diocese to submit the fees.
"The Minister invited us to submit our fees incurred through co-operating with the Inquiry and we gave full co-operation," said diocesan spokesman Fr John Carroll.
But a year after the Diocese submitted a €2.7m bill for legal and administrative costs, there has been no official response. Mr Doyle has written to Health Minister Mary Harney asking what progress has been made.
"It is a worry from a practical point of view. At the moment we have substantial borrowings of around €2m to fund ongoing settlements, but we still have to pay our lawyers.
"The bank is only prepared to resource us to a certain degree and it would obviously slow down our commitment to pay compensation to the victims if we had to take out €2m to cover our legal fees," added Mr Doyle.
Mr Doyle said all the costs were incurred as a result of legal and administrative fees stemming from the diocese's co-operation in the Birmingham and Ferns inquiries.
Mr Doyle said the Diocese had carried out a review of its fixed assets, including the Bishop's House at Summerhill in Wexford town, but no decisions had been made with regard to selling any property.
"We're still waiting to see the full extent of claims, for at the moment we're still within our bank-borrowing limit," said Mr Doyle.
"We've been making steady progress with regards to compensation claims and aim to meet people as they are ready to come forward to us," he added.
Last year it was revealed that the Diocese of Ferns was facing compensation claims of more than €10m from victims of clerical abuse.
Mr Doyle said that situation was largely unchanged with the diocese agreeing settlements totalling more that €4.7m with 30 victims.
Twenty more were currently been negotiated.
The Stewardship Fund which ran out at the end of last year paid 90% of those costs, totalling €3.2m.
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