Religious bodies who have declined to contribute towards a redress scheme for survivors of mother and baby homes have assets worth more than €1 billion.
The Department of Children had asked religious orders to pay €267 million towards the scheme.
However, only two of eight religious bodies linked to mother and baby homes in Ireland have offered to contribute.
The Sisters of Bon Secours offered €12.97 million – a sum deemed as meaningful and accepted by the Irish Government.
The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul has proposed contributing a building to the scheme. That offer is to be considered by the Government.
A third religious body – the Sisters of St John of God – declined to contribute to the scheme but offered a conditional donation of €75,000 to be used for a charitable purpose associated with mother and baby home survivors.
The remaining five bodies – the Congregation of Lady of the Good Shepherd; the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary; the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy; the Legion of Mary; and the Church of Ireland – made no offer.
The report into the scheme outlines the contributions which were sought from each organisation and a calculation of their assets at the end of 2023, which was conducted by EY.
The Sisters of Bon Secours offer aligns with an ask of €12.97 million that had been sought by the department.
The EY report found that the organisation had €106.8 million in assets at the end of 2023, alongside €1.3 million in cash.
The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul (DCSVP), which has offered the building, had been asked to make a contribution of up to €81 million.
The EY report found it had around €7.35 million in the bank and around €90 million in assets at the end of 2023.
Asked to provide a rough valuation of the building offered by the Daughters of Charity which is currently in use by the Department of Education, Children’s Minister Norma Foley did not provide a figure and said the offer was being explored.
The report states that the DCSVP was reluctant to make a contribution as it had provided €19 million to the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme in respect of the St Patrick’s/Pelletstown institution.
It said the order was made up of employees and not trustees, that the home was owned by the state, and that it needed to be in a position to fund its ongoing work.
The Sisters of St John of God, which offered the €75,000 donation, had been asked to contribute €5.2 million, with combined assets in the range of €55.7 million and cash of €6.8 million.
The order said there was no basis – “legal or moral” – to demand it to participate in the scheme as there was “no evidence that our sisters there acted in any untoward manner”.
It said the donation was made on the basis that it was not presented as a contribution or as part of a “moral or ethical obligation” towards those survivors.
The following is a breakdown relating to the remaining organisations, which made no offer under the scheme.
The Congregation of Lady of the Good Shepherd was asked for €10.46 million; with assets of €75.8 million and more than €2.4 million in the bank.
It said it would not be making a contribution as it could not afford to and it did not believe it had an ethical or moral reason to do so, further stating that the report into the Dunboyne institution showed residents were well cared for.
The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was asked for €96.5 million, with assets worth €5.8 million and €200,000 in the bank in Ireland, with an associated UK charity having €32.4 million in assets and €1.75 million in cash.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy was asked for €21 million, with roughly €320 million in assets and approximately €24 million in assets.
The Legion of Mary was asked for €26.2 million with €1.8 million in assets and and €1.5 million in cash.
The Church of Ireland was asked for almost €14 million with €632 million in assets and €40 million in cash.
Various bodies objected to their inclusion in the report by stating they may not have a legal or moral obligation to pay, that the institutions referenced were not controlled or governed by them, or that the publicly available financial information may be incomplete.