ALMOST ALL RELIGIOUS orders in Ireland have millions of Euros in both cash and assets, but the majority haven’t offered redress to survivors of mother and baby homes.
Out of the eight religious bodies with historical involvement in mother and baby institutions, only two have offered financial contributions to the survivor compensation scheme.
This is despite the eight religious organisations having combined net assets of €1.32 billion and huge cash deposits in the bank of €86 million.
A report published by the Government this week, conducted by negotiator Sheila Nunan and published today by Minister for Children Norma Foley, sets out clearly how it reached the final figure that religious orders should pay.
From the financial breakdowns, which were correlated in a report by financial consultants EY on the assets and cash each institution has, it is clear that the proposed contribution amounts could easily be covered by some with the cash they have on their books, while others would have to liquidate some assets (most likely property) to get the money.
The majority of groups have more than enough assets to do this.
So, what assets and cash do each order have?
It is worth noting that a number of orders did not cooperate with EY in their work of gathering financial data, making the work the consultants work more difficult.
In the case of religious organisations that declined to participate in the financial assessment exercise, EY utilised publicly available information.
From the financial breakdown and the monies sought, it is also worth noting that some of the smaller organisations wouldn’t have enough money to cover the proposed amounts if they gave all their cash and other assets over.
The religious organisations which have made no financial contributions are:
The Sisters of Mercy
The Legion of Mary
The Church of Ireland
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
The methodology used to value the contribution demanded was based on the principle of shared responsibility between the State and religious organisations, the legacy of the Mother and Baby Institutions and a fair and equitable distribution across relevant religious organisations, the report stated.
Figures were used from the Commission of Investigation Report in respect of the total number of former residents of each institution, rather than the number of former residents expected to apply to the Payment Scheme.
For instance, over 36% of all residents that come under the scheme fall under the umbrella of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, yet zero contribution has been made by that order.
So, what was asked of them?
The Congregation of Lady of the Good Shepherd was asked for €10.46 million; with assets of €75.8m and more than €2.4m in the bank.
The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was asked for €96.5m with assets worth €5.8m and €200,000 in the bank, with an associated UK charity having €32.4m in assets and €1.75m in cash.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy was asked for €21m, with roughly €320m in assets and approximately €24m in cash.
The Legion of Mary was asked for €26.2m and has €1.8m in assets and and €1.5m in cash.
The Church of Ireland was asked for almost €14m. It has €632m in assets and €40m in cash.
Previously, it has been reported that when it comes to other historical abuse redress schemes, religious orders only paid 16% of redress costs.
Compelling orders to pay up
Children’s Minister Norma Foley noted in the report that it had been a “challenging process” as it was a voluntary process whereby the negotiator could not compel bodies to produce information or offer contributions.
“To that end, I will ask my officials to liaise with the Office of the Attorney General to consider if any further options are available to the State in this regard,” she said.
It is understood the government is exploring all avenues to ensure the religious orders pay their fair share, as set out, and this includes legal action.
Previously, Labour leader Ivana Bacik has said the government must learn from the past in terms of orders not paying their fair share, resulting in the State having to foot the full costs.
Last year, Tánaiste Simon Harris said the government would pursue legislation to make sure religious orders do not “get off the hook” in terms of redress owed for historical abuse.
“I’ve specifically asked the Attorney General to draft legal advice for Government about what mechanisms we can deploy or indeed legislation to introduce to make sure that those institutions do have to contribute.
“Let me be really clear: My first approach is we should ask people to do the right thing. That’s not to suggest that we’re naive and presume they want to do the right thing. If they don’t do the right thing, we need to legislate to make sure that they do,” he said.