Christian Brothers Statement in the wake of a recent High Court order that 341 former members of the congregation be served with a summons by way of a national newspaper advertisement, as part of a claim for damages for child sexual assault and rape, although it is not being alleged that the men whose names have been published had anything to do with the crimes.

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS STATEMENT 

Christian Brothers typically agreeing settlements in under 1 year

  • Settlements being reached in most cases without any court proceedings
  • Congregation encourages survivors of abuse to make contact
  • Protracted litigation driving legal fees at little benefit to claimants

Contrary to recent commentary, the Christian Brothers’ focus remains resolutely on settling claims in a timely manner without the stress and delays of litigation.  In addition to contributions to Redress and Statutory Funds, we have provided compensation of over €40m including legal fees to over 200 claimants, and provided counselling for the survivors of abuse.

Our typical approach is to acknowledge a claim with an offer of mediation, and we can confirm that, at present, a majority of notified claims are settled within 12 months without the stress of a Court appearance. Claimants are listened to in a non-adversarial setting and their claims are settled in a timely manner. The vast majority of claimants and their legal representatives are opting for non-adversarial resolution of claims.

Our experience is that protracted litigation has very little, if any, benefit to claimants:

  • Compensation in protracted litigation is not materially different to what they would have received via early settlement.
  • Legal fees in protracted litigation are typically four times the compensation received by claimants. However, some are significantly higher. In one recent case the claim for legal fees by a law firm was almost 19 times the compensation paid to the claimant.
  • Regrettably protracted litigation diverts and depletes resources available for future claims and serves only to enrich the legal firms focussing on protracted litigation. 

Our primary focus remains on ensuring just, timely and appropriate settlements for survivors without the stress of litigation, and we invite any past-pupil of our schools who may have experienced sexual abuse to make contact with a view to timely resolution.

5TH AUGUST 2026

Ends

Previous coverage of this story on the ACP website:

RTÉ Online News: Former Christian Brothers’ names published following court order

Tony Flannery: The Judge and the Christian Brothers

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