The Christian Brothers has pledged €161m in cash and land to make amends to victims of clerical child abuse in the Republic of Ireland.
Six months after the shocking Ryan Report, the religious congregation has promised €30m to a Government trust plus €4m for counselling services.
School playing fields worth €127m will be transferred to the State and the Edmund Rice Schools Trust - a lay body which took control of the Brothers' schools last year.
'Shame and sorrow'
In a statement, the Christian Brothers said it hoped the package would help support former residents of church-run institutions.
"The range of incremental measures outlined follow the Christian Brothers' acceptance, shame and sorrow at the findings of the Ryan Report," it said.
"We understand and regret that nothing we say or do can turn back the clock for those affected by abuse."
The move comes a day before the publication of a separate investigation exposing sickening child sex abuse by Catholic priests in the Dublin Archdiocese.
The long-running Commission of Inquiry into the Dublin Archdiocese has examined allegations against a sample 46 priests.
The 700-page report will be censored in parts so as not to prejudice ongoing or potential criminal cases.
The Christian Brothers bowed to intense pressure in the weeks after the Ryan Report's publication last May and agreed to look for a possible new deal to make amends to its victims.
The report laid bare the physically and psychologically abusive regimes operated by religious orders in church and state-run institutions.
The €161m package includes:
- A €10m donation offered in amounts of €3m in each of the next two years, followed by a final payment of €4m in the third year
- €20m from property disposals, within the next five years
- €4m over the next five years to support counselling and therapeutic services such as Faoiseamh, an independent service which caters for the needs of former residents and others who have experienced abuse in religious-run institutions
- The transfer of playing fields, valued at €127m, to a new and separate trust jointly held by Government and ERST.
The Christian Brothers said it had met former residents and some of their representative groups, and also held talks with the Government.
"As Christian Brothers, we will continue to reflect on many of the deeper issues arising from the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse," the statement added.
"The decisions we have taken to recognise our moral obligation to survivors of abuse and to the people of Ireland will be one sign of our willingness to collaborate fully in creating a new reality for the care of children in Ireland."
In addition, the religious congregation also pledged €8m to the ERST over the five years to 2015.
© Press Association