A leading order of Catholic nuns which ran one of the most notorious industrial schools in Ireland tonight offered €128 million to compensate child abuse survivors.

The Sisters of Mercy, who were in charge of Goldenbridge, Dublin, will donate €20 million in cash and €108 million worth of property to charities and the state.

Money will also support counselling services.

The congregation, exposed along with 17 other orders for imposing physically and psychologically abusive regimes in state-run institutions, said the offer was an attempt to be faithful to values of reparation, reconciliation, healing and responsibility.

"It is the sincere hope and desire of the congregation that this contribution will help towards the enhancement of the lives of former residents," the sisters said.

The Sisters of Mercy have already handed over €31 million in compensation and €1.8 million for counselling.

Members of the order will engage with voluntary groups and the government over the transfer of properties.

Just over a week ago the Christian Brothers offered €161 million for abuse suffered at the hands of its priests. They will give the state money for counselling and school playing fields on top of €30 million already handed over.

Eighteen orders were criticised in the Ryan report last May for running abusive regimes on children in schools, reformatories, borstals, orphanages and convents.

Thousands of youngsters passed through the system over several decades.

The Ryan inquiry was separate from the Murphy report published last week, exposing the Church cover-ups of clerical child sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.