13 December 2009 By John Burke Public Affairs Correspondent – Sunday Business Post.
A panel set up by the government to review the finances of Catholic congregations has challenged the spending practices of several of the state’s major religious orders.
The panel, which is headed by Frank Daly, the former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, has passed its review of the assets of the 18 religious orders to education minister Batt O’Keeffe. He is expected to present it to the cabinet next week.
The panel has issued draft reports to several of the religious orders, instructing them to clarify significant elements of their projected spending in future years.
They include spending on the future care and welfare of ageing members of their congregations, the maintenance of premises and the provision of existing services to the community.
However, well -placed sources said the orders had made a ‘‘robust defence’’ of all their projected spending as part of the review into their assets.
O’Keeffe will also present a separate report to cabinet on the offers made by the orders to a new trust which will be established for the redress of survivors of abuse in Church-run residential institutions.
The total value of the amounts offered to the new trust is expected to exceed €360 million.
About a quarter of the total amount is in cash and the remainder is in property. The largest offerings are from the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers.
Hi: It appears to me that regardless of where the monies for the church subscription comes from, is it not true that these monies would originally have derived from the ordinary citizen who had supported the church with their donations for their “good works”.
Is it not also true that over the years, the church has benefited greatly from the tax authorities in Ireland – again at the expense of the general taxpayer as they are excluded form many forms of taxation. I am sure they have always availed of the expertise to maximise their position in this regard.
It is a pith they did not appear to apply the equivelent level of expertise in their pastoral care policies, administration and service delivery.
MM
All of the 18 religious orders assets should be put at the disposal for the survivors as most of that was earned by our maintenance of the properties. The blood, sweat and tears of thousands of children are part of the fabric of these buildings. They were proven to be criminals so let’s treat them as such! The sisters of charity in their letter to Batt O’Keeffe states their Mary Aikenhead fund is available to the survivors – not so, if you’ve been helped before so they’re being rather disingenuous. Anyone know anything about two houses available to us?