Over six years after Catholic orders agreed to hand over €128m in cash and property to help compensate children they abused while in their care, almost €32m worth of properties have yet to be legally given over to the state.Education Minister Batt O'Keefe said that of the 64 properties with a combined value of €66m due to be handed over, the full legal title of just 21 properties valued at almost €27m have been formally completed.
Another €7.5m worth of property is close to being finalised, but O'Keefe admitted that "good and marketable title" has yet to be found concerning the remaining €31.7m worth of the church's property.
"Given the complex and time-consuming nature of property transfers, it is difficult to state with any degree of certainty when the entire portfolio of property will be fully and finally transferred to the state," he said.
The church indemnity was signed off by then Education Minister, Michael Woods, just weeks before the 2002 general election. At the time, the final compensation bill for children who were placed in the religious-run residential institutions by the state was estimated to run to €250/€300m and it was felt that the church should contribute about half that cost.
But the bill is currently estimated to reach €1.1bn, meaning the church will end up footing around 10% of the final bill.
And that bill could be even higher after the High Court ruled last month that it was unconstitutional of the redress board to restrict compensation to victims of abuse under 18 years of age.
The woman involved in the case claimed she had been abused after she was admitted to St Patrick's Mother and Baby Home on the Navan Road in Dublin aged just over 18 and pregnant.
Fearful that this will spark more claims, O'Keefe said the state has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
"The Attorney General and the Government are confident of winning that case," O'Keefe said last week.
The Minister also resisted calls to re-open the indemnity agreement on the basis that the final bill could be even higher again.
"As far as I am concerned, legally, that is the binding agreement that has been made.
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(Source: SI)