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R/£ Catholic order offers more for child abuses
November 26, 2009 Edition 2
DUBLIN: A Roman Catholic group at the centre of an inquiry into child abuse in Ireland said yesterday that it had offered to pay €161 million (R1.2 billion) in additional compensation.
Disclosures in May of floggings, slave labour and gang rape in much of Ireland's now defunct system of industrial and reform schools have put pressure on religious orders who ran the institutions to pay more for past abuses.
The Roman Catholic order of Christian Brothers, once the largest provider of residential care for boys in Ireland, said it would pay €30m into a government trust, €4m for counselling and €127m for school playing fields.
"The measures outlined above follow the Christian Brothers' acceptance, shame and sorrow at the findings of the Ryan Report," the order said, referring to the inquiry covering the period between the 1930s and 1970s chaired by High Court Justice Sean Ryan. The offer would bring their total contributions since 1996 to €191m. - Reuters
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