Taoiseach says Government determined to make religious orders pay compensation over abuse in schools
It follows a scoping inquiry which heard 2,395 allegations of historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders, involving 884 alleged abusers in 308 schools across all areas of the country.
Micheál Martin said accounting and structuring issues - which often put assets, cash and property beyond reach - are being examined "in considerable detail'.
The Attorney General is also scrutinising legal levers, "with a view to enabling Government to have the powers ultimately to deal with those particular mechanisms," he said.
These could be used "to make sure that we can ensure that financial capacity is retained in the country and made available to provide compensation," Mr Martin said, answering Labour leader Ivana Bacik.
In the late 1990s, the State had amended the Statute of Limitations on a related issue, "but more is needed, and hat's acknowledged," he said.
"Some of the accounts in the scoping inquiry were quite horrific, but many survivors ere very clear that they wanted those who were responsible to be accountable and to contribute,' he said.
Ms Bacik said religious orders had for years been carrying out "a perfectly legal practice of transferring their assets and their property'.
She said it was "the developer's wife syndrome", that puts assets out of reach, "and it's not acceptable."
As of last September, religious orders have paid only 16pc of institutional redress costs that were owed, she said.
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"We know the money is there. Religious orders involved in historic abuse, sold more than 75 properties worth a total of over €90 million since 2016,' Ms Bacik said.
"We know these orders and their associated trusts own vast quantities of property and assets around the State."
Ms McEntee has meanwhile pledged that the new schools sex abuse inquiry will not involve endless extensions and runaway costs.
"I do believe we are learning," the Minister said, when asked about the Farrelly report into the Grace case, which is set to top a taxpayer cost of €20 million and which ran to eight years with repeated extensions - only to deliver a report of 2,000 pages, with no executive summary, as Minister Norma Foley had requested.
Ms McEntee claimed that religious orders would contribute to the vital element of redress - despite the failure of religious orders to live up to their responsibilities for a quarter of a century now.
She offered no ceiling for compensation payments, or any minimums for church contributions, but said the Government would be looking to identify assets held by religious organisations.
The minister was vague, however, about forcing redress, declining to refer to sequestration or seizure of assets - which the Attorney General has been asked to study by Ms Foley.
She said only that the Attorney General had been involved in drawing up the terms of reference and guidance - which sets a limit of five years for the project, with a requirement for an interim report after two years. Mr Justice Michael McGrath will chair the commission.
Ms McEntee said she wanted to thank every single survivor for their bravery in coming forward, acknowledging the late Mark Ryan and his brother David, "who were absolutely instrumental."
The findings of the scoping inquiry were "nothing short of devastating," she said.
"What is clear is that survivors want accountability.
"They deserve accountability, and that is why I am announcing the establishment of a Commission for Investigation."
The inquiry will begin this work "in the coming months," she said, beginning with a survey of survivors that will be oriented towards their needs.
The chair will be assisted by two commissioners who will look at the handling of sex abuse claims in both religious and State schools, while engaging with survivors.
The latter taking of evidence will be "anonymised, non-adversaral and with no cross-examiniation," the Minister insisted, adding that it would involve a sampling approach.
The terms of reference were set out "to ensure that we do not go over time", she said, but the redress would be a "significant amount," she said.
Ms McEntee added: "We are talking in the tens of millions."
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