THE Archbishop of Dublin has backed calls for religious orders to create a trust fund with its own autonomy for the survivors of institutional abuse and said his own diocese might contribute funding.Dr Diarmuid Martin was responding to concerns voiced by survivors’ groups that congregations involved in the running of institutions want control over additional funds made available to abuse victims and over how the money is used.
He said an independent trust fund, financed by the orders but not administered by them, should be considered.
"I said that they [orders] should come forward with creative suggestions. A trust fund, which would have its own autonomy and would address the questions in an impartial way, is one possibility."
He said he was considering contributing diocesan funds towards a trust as a response to anticipated findings of the separate inquiry into clerical child sex abuse in his Dublin Archdiocese.
That commission’s report is unlikely to be made public before the autumn, as the commission will not present it to the Government until the end of June and the Dáil breaks for its summer in early July.
The findings, which run to almost 800 pages, are in their final draft and a spokeswoman for the commission said the finished document is to be handed over to the Government at the end of next month.
It will then be examined by the Attorney General as, unlike in the Ryan report, abusers will be named.
"The Attorney General will want to satisfy himself that there are no criminal proceedings pending that might be jeopardised by publication of certain details," the spokeswoman said.
Dr Martin has already warned the investigation into his own diocese, from 1975 to 2004, was likely to produce shocking findings and he said yesterday he wanted to respond appropriately when they came out.
"I have a moral responsibility to act on the things that I have a responsibility for. I’m looking particularly at what might come up in the Dublin diocese. I would join some way in a trust fund that was looking forward to the future."
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