Ms Mary Lou O'Kennedy:

I can tell the Deputy what the survivors expressed to us. The overriding wish from them, as I said, was that it would be a common experience payment and there would not be a burden of proof on them to prove trauma or harms done. The kind of financial figure that was discussed for an interim payment - which would not be the totality of the payment, but an immediate interim payment - was estimated to be on average about €15,000. Other than that, there was much ambivalence by the survivors to put a figure on compensation because there was a sense that moneys would be seen as some form of compensation, and what they had experienced could not be compensated for. Figures went up to €200,000. People looked at what they could potentially seek as way of payment through the courts if they were to take a legal action around their experience. The amounts, I suppose, were not specific in the totality.

The kinds of harms that were referred to were extensive. There are 17 listed in the report: the loss of the mother-child relationship; the impact of psychological abuse that was suffered; the suffering inflicted as a consequence of a lack of proper vetting of family placements for children placed in the community; the damaging consequences of the withholding of personal information for mother and child survivors; the economic exploitation of work undertaken without payment, which was recognised; the suffering and harmful consequences of physical and-or sexual abuse in some of the placements and experiences of children; the impact of unspecified abuse or treatment; opportunities lost due to the lack of education, which has not been acknowledged; arbitrary detention and coercive control; the negative effects of stigma and discrimination, which have been recognised; greater harm experienced by those of mixed race; the suffering associated with the loss of the father, siblings and extended family relationships; the harm inflicted as a result of racial profiling and suppression of ethnic identity; health issues related to the lack of information or neglect; non-consensual participation in vaccine trials, which was a significant one; and the consequences of the loss of nationality and heritage.

There are so many impacts and harms experienced that the way it is set out in the Bill by comparison is so limited that it does not reflect the experience of the survivors.