IRELAND
Irish Times
Ronan McGreevy
The Minister of Education has said the approach taken by religious orders to redress for people abused in religious institutions suggested the “protection of the institution had far greater authority than protection of the children”.
Richard Bruton described the €219 million contribution by the Catholic Church to the redress bill as a “far cry” from the 50 per cent share it agreed to contribute when a deal was done with the State in 2002.
Then the orders agreed to contribute €128 million as part of an estimated redress bill of €256 million.
The original figure was a gross underestimation of the actual cost which has spiralled to €1.5 billion.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Bruton said it remained the Government’s belief that an “equitable share out bearing in mind the responsibility would be 50:50 and we are a far cry from that”.
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