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	Outcry over Irish Government Deal to Protect Church Child Abusers By David Sharrock The Times May 21, 2009 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6337926.ece The Irish Government is facing demands to revoke an agreement that hides the identity of hundreds of child abusers. Fine Gael, the main opposition party, has condemned a deal made seven years ago between the Government and religious orders granting them indemnity against future child abuse claims. A report from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, published on Wednesday, detailed decades of abuse in the state’s children’s institutions, many run by Catholic groups. The Christian Brothers were named as the worst offenders. The Government agreed to give religious orders indemnity if they paid ˆ128 million (?112 million) in cash and property into a fund to compensate victims. It also agreed not to identify about 800 alleged abusers. Brian Hayes, Fine Gael’s education spokesman, said: “The full cost of the commission and the compensation given to its victims will be closer to about ˆ1.2 billion.” Only about ten people have been convicted as a result of the allegations. John Walsh, of Irish Survivors of Child Abuse, said: “I would have never opened my wounds if I’d known this was going to be the end result.”
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