There was growing concern in the Government last night that it may have seriously underestimated the possible cost to the State of the compensation scheme for victims of abuse in religious institutions.
This follows an unprecedented payout - believed to be between €300,000 and €400,000 - agreed by the Dublin archdiocese with clerical child sex abuse victim Mr Mervyn Rundle in the settlement of a case in High Court yesterday. Costs were also awarded against the archdiocese.
Although the State had no involvement with the settlement, it is believed its size will raise expectations among people abused as children by clergy generally, including those abused in residential institution which, though run by religious orders, were the responsibility of the State.
Last January, the former minister for education, Dr Michael Woods, said that the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme, then being prepared, would cost between €200 million and €500 million. This was based on an estimate that 3,000 people would make successful claims, a Department of Education spokeswoman said yesterday.
It was then also expected awards would be between €50,000 and €300,000, depending on the severity of abuse. There is now a belief that this was a conservative estimate of the numbers and money.
Also unprecedented yesterday was an agreed acknowledgement by Cardinal Desmond Connell that had the archdiocese acted on previous reported concerns about the abuser, Father Thomas Naughton, it "could have resulted in his being withdrawn from parochial duties".
Sincerely apologising for the injury caused to the victim and his family, the Cardinal acknowledged also that in 1985 "Mr Rundle, then a young boy, was the victim of serious sexual abuse by Father Naughton". He further acknowledged the boy "was grievously injured by this abuse which has had devastating consequences for him and that the abuse has caused much distress to his family".
Adding to the anxiety of Government sources yesterday were the findings of an expert group which reported to Dr Woods before the redress scheme was agreed. It proposed that the redress board should make awards for loss of opportunity suffered by those sent to religious institutions, which could increase the State's liability still further if the board were to place a broad interpretation upon it.
Any such increase in liability would be borne entirely by the State, as Dr Woods struck a deal with the religious orders last July which indemnified them for any liability beyond the €128 million they agreed to pay.
Labour's justice spokesman, Mr Joe Costello, said last night: "We now have a situation whereby the State must pay for the church's crimes through the Residential Institutions Redress Board and the deal struck by Fianna Fáil's Michael Woods prior to the general election."
18-year nightmare ends: page 5