Ms Laura McGarrigle:

I would like to thank the committee for inviting officials to the meeting today to discuss draft legislation for the mother and baby institutions payment scheme. The scheme is a key action in the Government's comprehensive action plan for survivors and former residents of the mother and baby and county home institutions. Following on from the State apology in January 2021, the action plan was developed to demonstrate the State's commitment to recognising and responding to the suffering experienced, and to support survivors who were so badly failed in these institutions.

Given the payment scheme's scale, the Government agreed that it should be grounded in statute. This legislation, therefore, aims to support a user-friendly, one-stop-shop approach for applicants, as well as providing for lawful access to records.

I will broadly and briefly set out what is covered by the proposed legislation. An applicant to the payment scheme is referred to as a "relevant person" in the heads of the Bill. The definition of a "relevant person" encompasses a person who was resident as a child or as a mother in one of the institutions listed in schedule 1 of the heads of the Bill. The scheme will be administered by an executive office established within the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. This arrangement provides the best opportunity to open the scheme to applications as quickly as possible, following the enactment of the legislation. This is because we can work on setting up the office in parallel with our work on the legislation. While the office of the chief deciding officer of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme will be part of the Department, the chief deciding officer will be statutorily independent in the performance of her or his functions. She or he will also have staff.

Heads 7 to 10 set out the general duties and powers of the chief deciding officer. He or she will make determinations on applicants' eligibility to the scheme, in accordance with criteria and processes that are set out later in the legislation. He or she will also advertise the scheme, prepare an annual report on its operation and have the power to delegate operations to the staff of the executive office to ensure efficient administration of the scheme.

A number of the heads between 11 and 24 concern the benefits available under the scheme, as well as the application and determination processes. The benefits include a general payment, a work-related payment, a form of enhanced medical card or, for those who live outside of Ireland, a once-off health support payment of €3,000 in lieu of the enhanced medical card.

It is the intention that payments will be disregarded for the purposes of income tax and means assessments and work is ongoing with the Departments of Health, Finance and Social Protection in this regard.

Staff of the executive office will have the power to search the commission’s database and related records so that they can assist an applicant in providing relevant information and to verify information. Staff will also have the authority to request relevant information from the bodies listed in schedule 2 of the heads of the Bill, where relevant.

The Department is currently preparing a data processing impact assessment in relation to the processing of personal data and special category personal data under the scheme and has engaged with the Data Protection Commission as required. The eligibility criteria for each of the scheme's benefits are included in heads 18, 19 and 21. A general payment may be made to an applicant who was resident as a child in a relevant institution for six months or more, and to an applicant who was resident as a mother in a relevant institution for at least one night. A work-related payment may be payable to any mother who was in the Tuam institution or a county home for at least three months, as well as to a mother who was resident in another relevant institution for a minimum of three months and who undertook commercial work without pay outside of that institution. The overarching rates for these payments are set out in schedule 3.

Applicants who were resident in a relevant institution for at least six months will be entitled to an enhanced medical card and those who live abroad can choose a health support payment in lieu of the card.

Head 22 provides that in order to receive a payment from the scheme, an applicant will be required to sign a waiver. The waiver would only be signed at the point where the applicant accepts an offer, so he or she will know precisely what they are being offered prior to signing. The waiver is not attached to the enhanced medical card or the health support payment.

A person can apply to the scheme on behalf of a "relevant person" where the "relevant person" does not have the capacity to apply or has died since the date of the State apology.

Heads 25 to 34 provide for a number of other matters related to the administration of the scheme, including rights of review and appeal, support for legal costs, the carrying out of independent reviews of the scheme's operation and the power to add additional institutions to schedule 1.

We thank the committee again for the invitation today and we are happy to take questions.