Religious orders with millions in assets not contributing to redress scheme

Religious bodies who have declined to contribute towards a redress scheme for survivors of mother and baby homes have assets worth more than a billion euro.

The Department of Children had asked religious orders to pay 267 million euro (£229 million) towards the scheme.

However, only two of eight religious bodies linked to mother and baby homes in Ireland have offered to contribute.

The Sisters of Bon Secours offered 12.97 million euro (about £11 million) – a sum deemed as meaningful and accepted by the Irish Government.

The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul has proposed contributing a building to the scheme. That offer is to be considered by the Government.

A third religious body – the Sisters of St John of God – declined to contribute to the scheme but offered a conditional donation of 75,000 euro (£64,000) to be used for a charitable purpose associated with mother and baby home survivors.

The remaining five bodies – the Congregation of Lady of the Good Shepherd; the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary; the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy; the Legion of Mary; and the Church of Ireland – made no offer.

The report into the scheme outlines the contributions which were sought from each organisation and a calculation of their assets at the end of 2023, which was conducted by EY.

The Sisters of Bon Secours offer aligns with an ask of 12.97 million euro that had been sought by the department. The EY report found that the organisation had 106.8 million euro in assets (£91.4 million) at the end of 2023, alongside 1.3 million euro (£1.1 million) in cash.

The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul (DCSVP), which has offered the building, had been asked to make a contribution of up to 81 million euro (£69 million). The EY report found it had around 7.35 million euro (£6.29 million) in the bank and around 90 million euro (£77 million) in assets at the end of 2023.

Asked to provide a rough valuation of the building offered by the Daughters of Charity which is currently in use by the Department of Education, Children’s Minister Norma Foley did not provide a figure and said the offer was being explored.

The Sisters of St John of God, which offered the 75,000 euro donation, had been asked to contribute 5.2 million euro (£4.45 million), with combined assets in the range of 55.7 million euro (£47.7 million) and cash of 6.8 million euro (£5.8 million).

The following is a breakdown relating to the remaining organisations, which made no offer under the scheme.

The Congregation of Lady of the Good Shepherd was asked for 10.46 million euro (£9 million); with assets of 75.8 million euro (£65 million) and more than 2.4 million euro (£2 million) in the bank.

The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was asked for 96.5 million euro (£82.6 million), with assets worth 5.8 million euro (£5 million) and 200,000 euro (£171,000) in the bank in Ireland, with an associated UK charity having £27.76 million (32.4 million euro) in assets and £1.5 million in cash (1.75 million euro).

The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy was asked for 21 million euro (£18 million), with roughly 320 million euro (£274 million) in assets and approximately 24 million euro (£20.54 million) in assets.

The Legion of Mary was asked for 26.2 million euro (£22.4 million) with 1.8 million euro (£1.5 million) in assets and and 1.5 million euro in cash (£1.3 million).

The Church of Ireland was asked for almost 14 million euro (£12 million) with 632 million euro (£540 million) in assets and 40 million euro in cash (£34 million).

Various bodies objected to their inclusion in the report by stating they may not have a legal or moral obligation to pay, that the institutions referenced were not controlled or governed by them, or that the publicly available financial information may be incomplete.