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'New options' must be found to help abuse victims heal

Added on March 18, 2005


Friday March 18th 2005

NEW resources to compensate victims of clerical sex abuse need to be found, the Irish Bishops' Conference heard yesterday, because the bulk of a trust fund to meet such claims has already been spent.

Over the past nine years, 143 claims against 36 priests for child sex abuse have cost the Irish Catholic Church ?8.78m.

This has been paid out of their Stewardship Trust which is now undergoing a review.

Most of these cases occurred prior to 1996 and the bishops heard that they are not covered by any existing insurance policy.

Since 1996, survivors of abuse have received ?6.24m from the trust, while the legal costs have added an additional ?2.53m to the bill.

The Stewardship Trust was funded by the traditional Catholic diocesan insurer in Ireland, Church and General, with payments of ?4.3m in 1996 and a maximum agreement to pay up to ?6.3m in 1999.

Meanwhile, clerical sex abuse claim costs in 2003 were ?1.9m; and in 2004, they amounted to ?2.9m.

A statement from the three-day general meeting of the Bishops' Conference said: "Since the total sums agreed in 1996 and 1999 are nearing depletion, new resources need to be provided."

However, the meeting in Maynooth also recorded that during the past two years, the country's 26 dioceses have contributed some ?6.3m to the Stewardship Trust.

The Bishops' Conference heard that the Stewardship Trust is now undergoing a review process by its trustees, who are the four Archbishops of Ireland.

"We are committed to finding and offering ways by which those who have suffered abuse can explore, with competent and compassionate people, the steps that might lead them towards healing," the statement explained.

"These may involve counselling; it may be that a person's education has been blighted by the experience of abuse and that some kind of education provision would help to realise his or her potential; there may be a need for financial advice or help with various needs, for instance ways of relieving pressures, financial or otherwise, there may be a place for a financial recognition of the pain that the person has suffered," it said.

As part of the review of the Stewardship Trust, the bishops are undertaking a consultation process in their dioceses.

Isabel Hurley

? Irish Independent

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