I propose to take Questions Nos. 709 and 710 together.
The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme will provide financial payments to an estimated 34,000 people, some 19,000 of whom will also benefit from an enhanced medical card or health support payment. These benefits are in recognition of experiences while resident in Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. The overall cost of the Payment Scheme is estimated at €800 million.
The Government proposals for the Payment Scheme were developed following deliberations on the very complex issues in question. They were informed by a consultation process undertaken with survivors, as well as a report and proposals from an Interdepartmental Group (IDG). Government ultimately decided on proposals which were, in overall terms, broader than those proposed by the IDG and the recommendations from the Commission of Investigation.
Chapter 5 of the Interdepartmental Group Report, available on my Department's website, provides a series of costings for different scenarios. Tables 10 and 10(a) are of direct relevance to this question. Table 10 outlines an estimated cost of €1.1 billion to provide financial payments to all mothers and children regardless of time spent (58,000 people) plus an enhanced medical card to those who spent 6 months or more in an institution (19,000). Table 10(a) outlines an estimated cost of €1.6 billion to provide a financial payment and an enhanced medical card to all 58,000 survivors.
With regard to the cost of providing lump sum payments to people who were boarded out as children, the question may be inadvertently missing some detail, because, as asked, it warrants calculations of €48 million, €72 million and €96 million in turn.
However, it should be noted that while it is estimated that 4,800 children were boarded out from Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions, children were boarded out from other institutions also and in other circumstances including from their own families, as they were longer able to look after them. It is acknowledged that harm experienced by many children who were boarded out was particularly egregious. However, in many cases, children were looked after well by loving foster families and were regarded as a son or daughter, in some cases inheriting the family farm.
Therefore, providing redress for the circumstances of boarding out would require an individualised assessment. This is not the approach being taken to the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme. This Scheme will provide a general payment, rising based on time spent in an institution, with eligibility determined based on residence in an institution, verified in the majority of cases by institutional records. Applicants will not be required to bring forward evidence of abuse.
Finally, the Payment Scheme represents one element of a comprehensive package of support measures agreed by the Government as part of the Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. More specifically, in relation to people who were boarded out as children, €330,000 has been made available to Barnardos to provide a dedicated counselling service.
