MINISTER FOR Education Ruairí Quinn has insisted he is not “trying to
bankrupt” religious institutions by seeking a bigger contribution from
them for the €1.3 billion redress bill for clerical abuse victims.
The
Government is asking religious congregations named in the Ryan report
to transfer ownership of schools to the State to help make up its
shortfall. Properties rented to the State may be sought in lieu of cash
or other payments.
“I’m not in the business, and nor is the
Government, of trying to bankrupt any religious congregation that has an
ageing community who don’t have children of their own to pay for
nursing home care and provide all the other care . . .
“They gave
an awful lot of care to all of us growing up, and I’m one of them. What
I’m looking at, in fairness, is how can they come up to the mark,” he
told RTÉ Radio’s This Week programme.
To date, religious
congregations have offered almost €350 million, or roughly a quarter of
the redress bill faced by the taxpayer to compensate victims of abuse
and cover legal costs.
This offer fell “well short, by several
hundred million” of what the orders should bear towards the cost of
institutional residential child abuse, Mr Quinn said. He hoped the issue
could be resolved through fresh talks.
“I’m entering into these
discussions on the basis of trust and open and honest dealings. I have
no particular additional agenda, despite what some people might say.
“I’m
asking them for a 50-50 contribution. The taxpayer has already paid out
the bulk of it. Their share should be about €680 million and they are
half shy of that. They have made offers of cash and property, but they
need to do far more.”
On the issue of transferring schools to
State ownership, Mr Quinn said these schools would continue to be
Catholic schools under the present terms and conditions of their
patronage.
They would only be changed, he added, if their patrons
decided to do so.