13 hours ago
Over 66 million euro issued to mother and baby home survivors
Over 66 million euro in payments have been issued under the government's mother and baby home redress scheme.
An awareness campaign is expected to be launched to encourage people to apply for the scheme, with a particular focus on people living in Great Britain.
The Irish 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 euro (£680 million).
Its third implementation report about the action plan for issues related to mother and baby homes, published on Tuesday, 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 euro.
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 40% 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 euro (£231 million) to the cost of the Government-established Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme.
Only two of eight religious bodies linked to mother and baby homes in Ireland have offered to contribute, a report found in April.
The Sisters of Bon Secours offered 12.97 million euro (about £11 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.
On Tuesday, the Department of Children said it would appoint four survivor representatives to the steering group for the planned National Centre for Research and Remembrance in Dublin.
Planning permission was granted by Dublin City Centre in February 2025 to redevelop the former Magdalene Laundry at Sean MacDermott Street into a national remembrance centre.
It will include a museum and exhibition space, an archive, a research centre and central repository of records, and a garden of reflection.
