Dublin, Ireland - The Irish government announced Wednesday that it expects Catholic religious orders responsible for decades of child abuse to report by mid-July on their cash and assets - the next step in making them pay more to thousands of victims.
Prime Minister Brian Cowen and his senior Cabinet deputies met leaders of 18 orders that concealed chronic physical, sexual and psychological abuse in boarding schools, reformatories and orphanages from the 1930s to 1990s.
The orders of nuns and brothers long had denied the extent of harm caused to children in their care but were found guilty by a decade-long investigation that published results last month.
The orders initially insisted they would not pay more of the estimated euro1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) bill to 14,000 surviving victims, who are receiving payments from a taxpayer-funded program. But the orders changed that line after meeting the government June 4 and promised to make public their true material wealth for the first time.
After Wednesday's meeting, Cowen said he expected all 18 orders to produce accounts of their cash, property values and other assets by mid-July. He said the church groups' accounts would be scrutinized by a government-appointed panel of three experts.
Cowen said the government experts would determine "the adequacy of these statements as a basis for assessing the resources of the congregations."
The government says it expects the Catholic groups to contribute funds to a new charitable trust that would provide educational, medical and emotional support to abuse victims and their families.
The orders, chiefly the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy nuns, declined to comment. They previously have stressed that their congregations are in decline, and already struggle to cover the needs of their own elderly members.
The 2,600-page report published May 20 found evidence of ritual beatings, sheltering of pedophiles and regimes of terror in the church-run institutions. More than 50 workhouse-style schools - which provided homes for children deemed beggars, criminals or from dysfunctional homes from the 19th century to the early 1990s - were found guilty of the worst abuses. Church orders generally have fought abuse allegations in court, accusing those who sue them of exaggerating their experiences in hopes of winning money.