Insurance company Aegon has set aside one million euros to cover claims demanded by victims who have been sexually abused by Catholic priests in the Netherlands.

Any compensation which exceeds the one million euro fund is to be paid by the Church itself. The deal was agreed by Aegon and the archbishopric of Utrecht - on behalf of the Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands - in 2006, according to research conducted by NRC Handelsblad and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

The agreement followed a disagreement between the Church and the insurance company over a claim of over 43,000 euros to be paid out to a girl who had been sexually abused by a priest.

The agreement ended a long-running dispute over the precise coverage of the Church's insurance liability with Aegon. The Church argued that compensation paid to victims of sexual abuse by priests could be claimed as bodily injury. Aegon refused to pay such compensation because it did not want to put a premium on "the abuse of underage children".

The ensuing legal dispute was resolved in 2006 with the creation of the one million euro compensation fund. The fund will only be used to cover claims relating to sexual abuse that took place before 2000, when the insurance company rescinded its insurance policy with the Church.

Recent revelations of sexual abuse at a number of religious institutions have prompted dozens of new complaints. Aegon says no one has so far claimed compensation from the one million euro fund.

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