Rabbitte under fire over 'leak on abuse cash deal'

Saturday February 12th 2005

A BITTER row has broken out in the Dail's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) following accusations that Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has undermined the committee's work by leaking a draft report on the controversial compensation deal between the State and religious orders.

Fianna Fail's Sean Fleming accused Mr Rabbitte of the leak and demanded he resign his position on the committee.

Mr Rabbitte hit back strongly, calling the accusations "untrue and scurrilous" and insisting that Mr Fleming, also a member of the PAC, withdraw them.

Meanwhile, PAC chairman - Fine Gael's Michael Noonan - said the leaked report is not the one the committee is currently working on, and indicated the final report will be substantially different from the leaked version.

Mr Fleming wrote to Mr Noonan asking him to investigate the leak. He stated: "I believe Deputy Pat Rabbitte is the source of this leak. I am calling on him to resign his membership of the Public Accounts Committee in view of his actions, which have undermined our work."

He asked that the letter be discussed in public session at next Thursday's meeting of the PAC.

A spokesman for Mr Rabbitte said he will seek an apology and a retraction from Mr Fleming when the meeting takes place.

Mr Noonan would not speculate on who was behind the leak. He said there were 12 members of the committee, plus staff, and he was concerned the leak would make it "more difficult to reach agreement" on a final report.

He did not rule out discussing Mr Fleming's letter in public at the next meeting, although he indicated it was unlikely. He said he has had the letter distributed to all PAC members.

Mr Fleming told the Irish Independent the leaked report was drawn up by an outside consultant and was discussed in private session by the PAC on Wednesday.

He said it was agreed at the meeting that it had to be redrafted and that it was "absolutely wide of the mark".

The leaked draft is believed to focus on the way the compensation deal with religious orders was finalised without direct involvement of then Attorney General Michael McDowell in negotiations.

It also criticises the fact that the Government agreed to accept ?40m worth of property as part of the deal, although it had been handed over to the State before the agreement was signed.

The 18 orders that ran the country's industrial schools and orphanages are handing over ?128m in property and cash to the State. All but ?7.5m has been handed over to date.

The money is being used by the Residential Institutions Redress Board to compensate abuse victims.

David Quinn
Social Affairs Correspondent

? Irish Independent