In a followup to news I posted a couple weeks ago, it looks like Ireland’s religious orders will indeed be coughing up more money to compensate victims of sex abuse.

From CNS:

The 18 Irish religious orders implicated in decades of abuse of thousands of children in their care have agreed to increase their contribution to the compensation fund for victims.

Following a June 4 meeting with the Irish prime minister and other government ministers, the orders also agreed to an independent audit of their assets, so that their ability to pay further compensation can be determined.

In a joint statement following the meeting, initiated by Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowan, the orders said they were willing “to make financial and other contributions toward a broad range of measures, designed to alleviate the hurt caused to people who were abused in their care.”

“The congregations will contribute toward a trust, proposed by (Cowan), and a process has now commenced to establish how this can be achieved,” the statement said. “Each congregation is fully committed to identifying its resources, both financial and other, within a transparent process, with a view to delivering upon commitments made today.

“We agreed to commence this process immediately, and we have also agreed to meet the ‘Taoiseach’ (prime minister) again in two weeks’ time,” the statement said.