A Catholic Church fund which pays damages to abuse victims has had charity status since 1997, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen confirmed.
He told Labour leader Pat Rabbitte in a written Dáil reply yesterday that the Stewardship Trust applied for and was granted charitable tax exemption eight years ago by the Revenue Commissioners.
Mr Rabbitte had asked "if making contributions towards the payment of awards of damages and the costs associated with such awards could ever be regarded as a charitable purpose".
Mr McDowell replied that "bodies that are granted charitable status are subject to periodic review with a view to ensuring their continued compliance with the terms of the exemption.
"This includes ensuring that income of the charity is applied for charitable purposes."
