More than 40 properties surrendered to the State as part-payment of €1.4bn bill for abuse survivors
17 FEBRUARY 2013
Catholic Church orders have surrendered ownership of 41 properties with a total value of €41m to the State as part of the redress scheme, new figures obtained reveal.
School buildings, convents, vestries, playing fields and associated lands across Ireland are included in the list.
The highest value single property was religious grounds in Merrion, south Dublin, which was valued at €8.9m.
Documents sent by Sean O Foghlu, secretary general of the Department of Education, to the Public Accounts Committee, show that the properties were handed over “under the terms of the 2002 Indemnity Agreement”.
However, according to his letter, significant issues remain outstanding in relation to the “legal requirements” of the agreement and the Chief State’s Solicitor’s Office is currently continuing to “pursue” the matter.
“The physical transfers of the properties have taken place and all of the properties are in use or available for use by the intended recipients.
“While they have transferred physically, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office continues to pursue the legal requirements under the indemnity agreement,” he wrote.
Mr O Foghlu said “the department agreed in principle” with the religious orders that in total 64 properties would be accepted “subject to good and marketable title and agreed valuations”.
He went on to say that the number was reduced to 61 properties, after the department accepted “a cash sum in lieu of three properties where the marketable title could not be established”.
According to the documents, apart from the significant site at Merrion, eight other properties worth more than €1m were surrendered.
They include a Terenure Secondary School, which was valued at €4.5m; St Teresa’s convent at Temple Hill in Blackrock, which was valued at €3.1m and a Traveller site also in Blackrock which was valued at €3.1m. Other significant properties handed over included two separate properties in Tuam, Galway, valued at €3,020,000; St Anne’s Secondary School, which was valued at €2,600,000; Holy Cross Gardens, Killarney (€1,270,000); 23 Parnell Square, Dublin (€1,270,000); and Goldenbridge Group Homes, which was valued at €1,269,700.
The documents also show that the remaining 20 properties have not yet been handed over because they are still “subject to good and marketable title being furnished”.
The total cost of offering redress to the victims of abuse has soared to almost €1.4bn.
Under a controversial 2002 indemnity agreement, 18 religious orders who ran care institutions pledged to contribute €128m in cash, property and counselling services towards redress costs for abuse survivors.
Courtesy Independent.ie
this will cover some of the law bills but it was stolen compensation by a guilty party in power leaving no justice, no support, no healing for the lives they and the Religious destroyed, as the old saying goes you do not fix something like this by just throwing money at it, it needs to be done right or it will never heal. This Government throw salt on survivors wounds and think nothing about it, Sadests
Thanks so much Mary, I’m feeling a bit better. I appreciate your concern. Best wishes. Paddy.
So sorry to read you have been ill Paddy. Sincerely hope it isn’t serious and that you will be soon well again. Our thoughts are with you. We really love and admire you very much. Take care! MARY.
Hi Paddy I hope you get better I will be thinking of you and to say you have my deepest apology as it was my computer
Over here i have read that it was cardinal angelo soldona who forced the pope out. Thay have been talking about being protective towards abusers and those who took part in the cover up. The pope couldnt agree with that now because its out in the open so he had to leave as the last pope said before his death filth there is in the church . He was right as was the poor groom who went to prison for it .
The Roman Catholic church Ltd got all the money for property from its members.
If the Roman church can show mother Earth sold them any property to own, then they can say they own. But she never sold them as much as an acre .
She did appoint every human living off her as her Guardians though.
Returning the property and money back to the people is like returning stolen goods- no big deal.
Last time the greedy legal profession who are controlled by the Roman church made the profit from the misery of the veterans of abuse.
This time has to be different.
Nothing by you is being blocked. Make sure you are sending the comments correctly. Another reason your comments might not have appeared was due to the fact that I was very ill and unable to get to the computer. Think on these things.
A documentary on the pathology of power in the Catholic Church
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2013/0219/1224330198387.html
I do not do well with Macs I need a pc again sorry Paddy
Please ignore as the posts did not show when i opened this page I am so sorry paddy, something my side must be wrong please remove my last comment sincere apologies Robert. the whole section showed no comments. sorry again Paddy
Paddy are all my comments being rejected? if so why?
The average compensation payment at the Redress Board was 70,000 euro. I think it was 11,000 people who received compensation, that’s a total of 77 million euro paid out to survivors. The above article says that the cost todate of the redress board is 1.4 billion euro. How on earth could it cost 63 million euro to run the Redress Board? How many people did it employ? What were their salaries?
It sure looks like some of those involved in the workings of the Redress Board placed a much higher monetary value on their own worth than that of the survivor.
The redress board fund should have been for the benefit of survivors only and the State and Church should have paid the wages of those employed and day to day costs of the fund seperately. It’s my guess that there might have been tighter control of the purse strings if that had happened.
How on earth could the cost of the fund be almost equal in amount to the sum of compensation it has paid to 11,000 people?
It is time to stop complaining like myself and gather yourselves up and have a massive meeting there are great people out there who have the skills for such a happening. we all need it.
Remember the Education Minister is claiming you all agree to the pennies offered by him in a STATUTORY FUND you all know this is NOT TRUE so this cannot be proven to be wrong by just a few hundred survivors.
It took Paddy Doyle years and very hard work and finances to keep this site running,
But what is the point if suffering us still out there due to this abuse of our childhood and that abuse that has effected our lives, we have complained written thousands of comments of feelings but there has been such little if no ACTION.
The State has always known that the Religious were prison wardens keeping children and women locked away to make themselves fortunes. Locking up the poor and the most vulnerable was a crime against the people, it is time now we are adults stood up for our child in us and make it known how this lock up has destroyed our lives by an UN GODLY HATE,
All those in high society should be questioned on how they became so rich and children and women who were poor had their lives taken from them by being locked up in institutions run by CRIMINALS.
This is the first Pope to retire in the 600 year reign of this crazy Religion.
please read the article link above.
this by the way is all over the net for the first time and is very serious, so survivors all 18000 and more if you did as you say you did suffer I suggest you wake uop and make a stand for the justice the support and the personal help you so so deserve.
And the rest and this money should go to the survivors but then this is only if survivors make a stand and make sure they get exactly what they are entitled to and deserve NO ONE ELSE WILL FOR SURE.
Survivors need serious help in their lives and support in the kind of life they were issued by the Church and Government alike.
here is a link to express what millions are thinking and believing and posting all over the world and the Irish Government and media alike have produced NOTHING so here you are have a read.
http://notocbcp.weebly.com/2/post/2013/02/pope-received-news-of-his-warrant-of-arrest-before-resignation.html
I keep thinking about the land sold by the church which was in fact a graveyard. If there is going to be the same kind of thing it would be better if it was verified that no one is buried there. Thay have been using these propertys for many years. if it helps the people to get a wider education its better for all .
The Churches tactic seems to be to make one seemly sincere and honest move to bring down the guard of their most ardent critics. This will enable them to punch a hole in their critics armor, allowing them to manipulate and deceive through it.
In Ireland the Catholic Church Limited can rape, torture and enslave children and then get a massive discount when it comes to the bill for their crimes. In the sick way the CCL works this now means that any surviving victims who pay tax are paying in effect for their incarceration all over again.