Church is playing a dangerous game with delays – and could pay the price

SIXTEEN years have passed since 18 religious congregations first entered into a deal with the State to compensate former residents of their institutions who suffered abuse while in their care.

The Church is yet to hand over all of the money and property it pledged under the 2002 indemnity deal and the subsequent deal in 2009. Frustration over this foot dragging has unsurprisingly bubbled to the surface again. Exasperated members of the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) decided to use the papal visit in August as a deadline to force the religious orders to finally transfer all outstanding properties over to the State.

Past experience suggests that Pope Francis’s visit on August 25-26 will come and go, and the State and religious orders will still be deadlocked long after the pontiff is back on terra firma in Rome. It is surprising the State has appeared powerless to set the pace and get the orders to pay up and conclude the process. Allowing it to drag on for so long has driven a wedge between Church and State, with the latter rightly angered at having to pick up the lions’ share of the bill.

Members of the PAC have accused the Department of Education of a “lack of determination” to bring the transfer of property under the redress scheme to a conclusion. What may assist the department is the fact Irish Survivors of Child Abuse has requested a meeting with Pope Francis during his visit and has said it will raise the issue of the congregations’ procrastination should it get to meet him. It is not the first time survivors have called for papal intervention on this matter. In March 2017, they appealed to the Pope to intervene to help break the impasse between religious orders and the State.

From the religious congregations’ perspective, they are having difficulty in getting the department’s agreement to the transfer of assets such as school buildings, playing fields and healthcare facilities into trusts run by the religious orders themselves. In some cases, the department is already contributing to the running costs of the schools, and transfer to a trust will realise no additional money for them. But there is also an issue around the religious congregations’ understanding of their role in the redress scheme.

In April 2017, one of the 18 religious congregations, the Oblates, published a statement in which it argued it was the Irish State which framed the redress scheme, not the congregations, and that the Government proceeded with a flawed redress structure despite warnings from the religious congregations about the possible financial cost.

It is therefore unsurprising the religious congregations should take their time to deliver on their compensation pledges. But such a stance is likely to rebound on the Church, particularly in the education sector, where religious congregations are still major players through their educational trusts, and where denominational education is facing its most significant threat since the foundation of the State.

Past experience suggests this will still be deadlocked long after the Pope is back in Rome