Church Lands Fall Short On State Abuse Bill (Éire)

Only a small number of properties handed over to the state by the Catholic Church to part-fund the bill for the victims of physical and sexual abuse in religious institutions have yielded any financial gain for the exchequer.

The state agreed to accept properties worth €80 million five years ago to cover the compensation bill for abuse victims, but the list of properties obtained mostly comprises schools, playing fields, community resources and healthcare facilities.

Many of these were previously maintained by the state.

Records obtained from official bodies show that the state attributed a higher value to several properties transferred than the values supplied by the religious orders.

Some properties have been transferred in name but are still controlled by religious orders.

In many cases, where schools have been transferred to state ownership, the orders retain an effective control of the school through boards of management or their continuing role as patrons of the school.

In the meantime, the compensation bill for abuse victims has soared to an estimated €1.2 billion almost €1 billion more than the €250 million the state believed the compensation bill would cost taxpayers.

Many properties have not yet been transferred, although the state refuses to say if there is a problem with the title on the lands. In some cases, however, it has indicated that a change of legislation will be needed to enable the transfer.

Meanwhile, religious orders have continued to sell off parts of their vast landholdings, particularly in Dublin, where religious land is extremely valuable because of its location and the enormously inflated price of development land on the open market.

Many religious orders face escalating bills to care for increasingly elderly and infirm memberships.

The €80 million in property was the main part of the religious order’s contribution.

This was only given on condition that the state agreed to pay in full for any court actions for damages, in addition to the costs of the redress board set up to compensate victims.

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