Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 October 2022
289. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in relation to the Mother and Baby Institutions payment scheme if it is open to persons to challenge the Commission's interpretation of specific named institutions; and if so, if the process will be outlined. [52491/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government does not wish to disregard or diminish any person’s experience and recognises that there are people who suffered stigma, trauma and abuse in other institutions and outside of institutions who will not qualify for the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme.
The Commission found that the named Mother and Baby Homes were ‘unquestionably the main such homes that existed during the 20th century in terms of the function they fulfilled with regard to single women and their children. They all received State funding to a greater or lesser degree and the State was directly responsible for establishing a number of them.’
If it were to come to light that an institution fulfilled a similar function with regard to single women and their children as the Mother and Baby Home Institutions and the State had a regulatory or inspection function, section 43 of the recently published draft Bill enables the Minister to insert an additional institution into the Schedule. This will allow a person to make an application in respect of time spent as a relevant person in that additional institution. Section 15 then provides a related provision in allowing for an applicant to submit a second application in a case where they were also resident in an institution that has been added to the Schedule.
