Cabinet signed off on the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme, paving the way for it to be debated in the Oireachtas. Children's Minister Roderick O'Gorman, who oversees the implementation of the scheme, brought a memo to Cabinet.
Mother-and-baby homes were institutions, often run by religious organisations, developed to provide accommodation for unmarried mothers. In the Republic of Ireland, at least 56,000 women entered these institutions and a further 25,000 likely lived within private institutions. The new scheme is based on the schemes run by the government for those who have suffered in these places
As per latest instructions, there are revised pay bands.
- the Payment Scheme will provide financial payments and an enhanced medical card in acknowledgement of suffering experienced while resident in Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions
- some 34,000 survivors will be eligible for financial payments and 19,000 will be eligible for an enhanced medical card under the Scheme, at an estimated cost of €800 million. It will be the largest scheme of its kind in the history of the State in terms of the numbers expected to benefit
- the Payment Scheme will open for applications as soon as possible in 2023 following the enactment of the legislation
In the upcoming weeks, the Dáil and Seanad will discuss and vote on the contentious restitution system. The programme, which will be available to roughly 34,000 survivors, is anticipated to cost the government about €800 million.
The programme will reportedly launch "as soon as possible" in 2023, missing the original target date of this year.
O'Gorman claimed in a statement sent to survivors today and obtained by The Journal that he had "improved the overall approach by introducing more refined payment bands," which was "an important difference between the original rates approved by Government in November 2021 and the rates set out in the Bill today."
These more precise bands, which are defined by reference to days and are complemented by extra quarterly rate bands, will be advantageous to applicants, especially in cases where they would have been at the higher end of a particular annual band under the original plans. They will improve fairness and transparency and smooth out and reduce the difference in payment amounts for applicants.
Many mothers and children spent time outside the institution, for example, as a result of hospitalization related to pregnancy, childbirth, illness or infectious diseases. I think it is very unfair that a person's length of stay (and associated payment) is reduced because of a hospitalization caused by severe institutional conditions.
The Bill's inclusion of temporary absences up to 180 days in the calculation of a person's overall time in a relevant institution and their associated financial payment is thus another significant improvement.
The minister informed the survivors that the Bill would be ready for publication in the upcoming week since the Government had authorised it. The Bills Office will need a few days to process this, and once it is, we will email it to you.
The Second Stage will take place the week of October 24. "It is my goal to bring this Bill to either Dáil or Seanad Éireann as soon as feasible so that it can begin its journey through the legislative process."
According to O'Gorman, the law will make it easier to create an independent Executive Office within his department to oversee the programme.
To avoid re-traumatizing survivors and former residents, the programme would adopt a holistic and non-adversarial approach, the official said.
Additionally eligible for an improved medical card will be about 19,000 persons.
Survivors who are currently living abroad will be eligible for a payment "on the same terms as individuals living in Ireland, and will have the choice to receive an enhanced medical card or a once-off payment of €3,000 in lieu of the card as a contribution towards their individual health needs," the minister said.
IRELAND: A shameful chapter of Irish history: mother and baby homes
