THE architect of a deal which will result in the taxpayer being hit with a bill of over €1bn for the compensation of child abuse victims last night said he had no regrets over the controversial arrangement.Former Education Minister Dr Michael Woods said he did not believe that the Government could, or should, seek a renegotiation of the deal which allows the Catholic Church escape 90pc of the cost of compensating victims.
The Government said that it will not seek renegotiation of the deal. Instead the taxpayer will be hit with the bill for compensation for the thousands of victims of systematic cruelty and abuse inflicted by members of religious orders.
The contribution of religious orders was capped at a once-off payment of €128m under an indemnity agreement overseen by former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2002.
The deal was concluded by Dr Woods a day before the 2002 general election. Speaking to the Irish Independent last night, he said he stood by what he described as "the best deal that could be negotiated at the time".
"I think what the government did was good. It was what the people would want and in the long term I think the people will be very happy that this horrific situation was dealt with by this generation," he said.
"You look at this time and you will find this generation of people in Ireland will be very happy with what they did. It was the least we could do for those people ourselves. The religious have to decide themselves on what they have done and how they stand in it."
When asked whether the Church should make any more contributions, Dr Woods said that is "a matter for them".
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said yesterday: "The Department does not intend to revisit or renegotiate the terms of the existing indemnity agreement.
"It does not intend to enter into any new agreement which would see the State seek further contributions from the contributing congregations."
Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe said many of the schools were under State supervision and the State had failed in its duty of care.
He added that the Comptroller and Auditor General had scrutinised the agreement and concluded that it was the best deal that could be achieved.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen expressed doubts about the Church contributing a greater sum.
"It may not be possible to reopen the matter. We will take legal advice," he said.
He added that the indemnity deal had already been scrutinised by a Dail committee.
Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said last night he stood by the deal of seven years ago.
A significant amount of Church assets had been "tied up" in land and property, he said, with the State accepting tracts to the value of the deal.
"My agenda was to try to help the victims," Mr Ahern said.
A total of 32,000 people had been though the institutions, and "they weren't all abused, let's be frank about it," he added.
Meanwhile, Minister for Children Barry Andrews refused to agree that the Catholic Church should be told by the Government that it had a moral obligation to pay more.
Obligations
He said the best legal advice available to the Government in 2002 was that they had no power to coerce the congregations to pay.
"If there is a moral obligation, then that is something that should be discharged by themselves," he argued.
The congregations should reflect on the significance of the findings of the Ryan report, he said.
The Government is to hold a special meeting next week to consider the fallout of the report, which has damaged Ireland's reputation across the globe.
A two-day Dail debate will be called to discuss the report.
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