Religious orders will not claim costs

THREE religious orders who took part in the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) have decided to refund or not to claim at least some of the legal costs they were entitled to from the State.

It comes as the Department of Education confirmed to the MoS last week that the nuns in the NMH row had offset their Ryan Commission legal costs against an outstanding €3m redress contribution. Their legal bill is estimated to be €5m.

It has now emerged that the Presentation Brothers and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate have also opted to forego any monies due to them for cooperating with the Commission.

Last week the Department said the Sisters of Charity offset was not calculated yet: ‘The Government agreed to reckon this set-off as a contribution …to be calculated by applying the average discount achieved by CICA on its respondent legal costs… once CICA has completed it work.’

The offset of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate will also be calculated at that stage.