The Government is pursuing legislation to make sure religious orders do not “get off the hook” over historical abuse, the Taoiseach has said.
It comes after the announcement that a commission of investigation is to be established to examine historical sexual abuse claims.
Almost 2,400 allegations of historical sexual abuse were recorded by 308 schools run by religious orders across Ireland, a Government-ordered scoping inquiry revealed.
Speaking to reporters in Washington DC, Mr Harris said: “I’ve specifically asked the Attorney General to draft legal advice for Government about what mechanisms we can deploy or indeed legislation to introduce to make sure that those institutions do have to contribute.
“Let me be really clear: My first approach is we should ask people to do the right thing.
“That’s not to suggest that we’re naive and presume they want to do the right thing.
“If they don’t do the right thing, we need to legislate to make sure that they do.”
Mr Harris said he has asked the Attorney General to review legislation put forward by Labour leader Ivana Bacik.
He said he believed there was a wide consensus in the Dail to follow the recommendations of the Mary O’Toole report, which said a mechanism should be put in place to make sure religious orders contribute.
He added: “In the past, they got off the hook and they’re not going to this time.
“And they’ve been issuing statements talking about how sorry they are.
“We’ll decide how sincere that sorrow is depending on what they do next.”
Mr Harris said he believed options to pursue payments from religious orders will require legislation.
However, he said he did not expect the legislation to take “very long”, adding that he believed the current Government would be able to provide “clarity” on the matter.