‘Discriminatory and unjust' mother and baby redress scheme has re-traumatised survivors
The scheme was opened in March 2024, and was announced alongside the appointment of a "special advocate" to act as a voice for survivors.
In her first annual report brought to Cabinet today, Patricia Carey says the eligibility criteria for redress have caused "anger and distress" to many, has re- traumatised some survivors and has created a "hierarchy of suffering'.
The scheme excludes children who spent less than 180 days in an institution; those who were "boarded-out" or fostered and people in institutions not included under the legislation, among others.
The special advocate says that those who are eligible, and who did receive redress, "have shared their strong feelings of distress and guilt" because they were accepted "while others who were in the same institution were left behind'.
Ms Carey also says that separate laws to provide enhanced health, education, and other services to survivors of abuse in residential institutions is "unfair and exclusionary" because they do not apply to survivors who were previously paid redress.
They expressed concern that those who were unable to apply under the redress scheme or who were ineligible are not included.
The Support for Survivors of Residential Abuse Bill was passed in the Dáil last month.
The special advocate report said that "sadly' many survivors and their families did not apply for redress because they were not aware of it, they missed the deadline, they were in hospital, prison or other institutions or because of mental or physical health issues.
"Given the ageing survivor population, it is unfair and exclusionary to further discriminate against those who, through no fault of their own, were unable to or unaware of previous redress schemes and this would further enforce a lack of justice for all survivors.'
The Government set up the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme with the expectation of issuing payments to around 34,000 people and health supports to 19,000 people who were in mother and baby homes, at a cost of €800 million.
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Its third implementation report about the action plan for issues related to mother and baby homes, published today, said that over 6,600 applications have been received as of June 15, 2025.
By this date, over 4,400 payments had been processed to the value of over €66 million.
Over 16,000 requests for information has also been completed under the Birth Information and Tracing Act.
'With an estimated 34,000 people eligible for this scheme, an estimated 40pc of whom live outside of Ireland, the department is conscious of the need to raise awareness of the scheme through all means possible and phase 2 of a public awareness campaign ran from October to December 2024 with a particular focus on Great Britain,' the report said.
'Further phases of the awareness campaign will be undertaken in the future.'
The Government had sought for religious bodies to contribute around €270 million to the cost of the scheme.
Only two of eight religious bodies linked to mother and baby homes offered to contribute, a report found in April.
The Sisters of Bon Secours offered €12.97 million, while the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul proposed contributing a building to the scheme.
A commission of investigation was set up in 2015 to examine homes run by the State and religious organisations where tens of thousands of unmarried Irish women were sent to have their babies.
The commission found that almost 170,000 women and children passed through the institutions from 1922 until the last one closed in 1998.
The investigation exposed the often harsh conditions and unforgiving regimes many women and children experienced in the institutions.
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