I propose to take Questions Nos. 20, 145 and 28 together.
The Taoiseach and relevant Ministers, including myself, held separate meetings with representatives of the religious congregations and groups representing survivors of residential institutional child abuse on 15th April. The context of the meetings was the responses from the eighteen Congregations, that were party to the 2002 Indemnity Agreement, to the call for further substantial contributions following the publication of the Ryan Report and the Report of the Independent Panel appointed by the Government to report on the adequacy of the Congregations' statements of resources as a basis for assessing their resources. A Government Statement was issued following the meetings and the Report of the Panel together with the Congregations' individual responses were published on my Department's website.
At the meetings, the Taoiseach advised that the Government had considered the Panel's Report together with the individual responses from the Congregations to the call for further substantial contributions, along with a range of issues raised in the aftermath of the publication of the Ryan Report. The Government's view is that the overall costs in responding to residential institutional abuse, which are now projected to reach €1.36 billion, should be shared on a 50:50 basis between the taxpayer and the Congregations responsible for the running of residential institutions.
The Congregations are now offering significant additional contributions, which they have valued at €348.51m. While more detailed work and discussion is necessary with the Congregations in relation to the detail of their property offers, assuming these contributions are fully realised, the Congregations' collective contributions to date, when account is taken of the original €128m contribution under the 2002 Indemnity Agreement, amount to €476.51m. This leaves a target of over €200m to reach the 50% share of the overall projected costs, of some €680m.
The Government has requested that additional contributions be provided to the greatest degree possible in cash as a contribution to the planned National Children's Hospital.
The Government also announced its proposal to utilise the cash element of the Congregations' current offers of contributions, which will amount to some €110m over the next few years, to establish a Statutory Fund, in keeping with the all party Motion passed by Dáil Éireann, which supported the proposal for a Trust to be set up and managed by the State for the support of victims and to other education and welfare purposes.
Following on the original apology by the former Taoiseach in May 1999, a comprehensive range of measures were put in place in response to residential institutional child abuse. The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and the independent Residential Institutions Redress Scheme were established together with a National Counselling Services, family tracing service, education services and funding for support groups. The Government is satisfied that the arrangements put in place have benefited survivors and it does not propose to revise the arrangements. Conscious of the ongoing pain suffered by so many former residents the Government re-iterated its apology to them and its commitment to the full implementation of the recommendations of the Ryan Report. Officials will now engage with each of the Congregations in relation to their current offers and how the objective of a 50:50 sharing of the overall costs will be achieved. Following consultation with the Congregations and the former residents as to the exact nature of the fund, how it will operate and the uses to which it will be put, the arrangements for the Statutory Fund will be considered by the Government.
