Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, to the House. I also welcome the opportunity to speak on this extremely important legislation. Yesterday we addressed a further aspect of the institutionalisation of many women and children in this country over decades, namely, the establishment of the mother and baby homes commission. We still have quite a long way to go in the work that must be done to redress the wrongs done.

I wish to ask the Minister of State about the Title of the Bill, which in English is the Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill and in Irish is An Bille um Shásamh do Mhná a raibh Cónaí Orthu i bhForais Áirithe. Is "sásamh" the most sensitive translation of the word "redress"? It seems to me a more appropriate word might have been chosen. The Minister of State is a well-known Gaeilgeoir and he will know whether it is the most appropriate word. To me, it seems a little questionable.

I spent many years in the 1980s living right beside a Magdalen home in Sean MacDermott Street. There I saw the older women who were institutionalised and the younger women who were very vulnerable.

It certainly was not a pretty sight. It was difficult for the nuns but it was extremely difficult for all the women and children who had been there. That particular Magdalen laundry did laundry for Mountjoy Prison. It was one of the more recent laundries to close and it has now been purchased by Dublin City Council.

I recall that shortly after I was elected to Dublin City Council, in 1993, I tabled a motion condemning the Magdalen laundries and seeking that a redress process be put in place. The only person who spoke in favour of that motion on that occasion was the then Lord Mayor, the late Tomás Mac Giolla. That was the degree of support I got for that motion at Dublin City Council. That is not that long ago - only 21 years ago. It shows the change that has taken place in our attitude to many people who were in institutions during the past few decades.

I am delighted that when this Government came into office one of the measures taken was the setting up of the McAleese inquiry, in June 2011. It reported in 2013. That was followed by the Quirke inquiry, and now we have the implementation of the findings of that report. It is all just an ongoing process. Part of that is the institutionalisation which was so pervasive in the history of this country. It was almost the Victorianisation of Irish society for a long period. Any problems were dealt with through institutional means. We relied on that very much over the decades. We have only been operating the redress process since 2002, when the indemnification scheme was established and the religious orders were supposed to put together a fund of €108 million. As of now, approximately €42 million has been provided, so they are less than halfway towards providing the fund in respect of the indemnification and redress scheme dealing with reformatory and industrial schools. There are many issues in that respect that have to be dealt with as well.

I am delighted that we are putting through this redress legislation, but I am also delighted that so much progress has taken place already. Some 86% of the 776 applicants who have come forward have been dealt with by providing ex gratiapayments ranging from €11,500 to €100,000, and €18 million has been paid out so far. There have also been pension payments, including a top-up pension payment of €100 for those up to the age of 66 and €230 for those aged over 66. Before the scheme came into place, 91% of the women involved already had medical cards. Therefore, much activity has taken place already in this respect.

Of the 10,000 women who were in those institutions over the years, 27% were referrals by the State. All of this happened since the foundation of the State in 1922. Clearly, we have a responsibility from the perspective of the State. Some women were referred from other sources as well, very much on an informal, ad hoc basis with no proper justification. This was a problem, and often the way it was dealt with was by applying the phrase "out of sight, out of mind". However, that does not in any way mean that we do not have a responsibility to give as thorough a redress as possible in this respect.At last this legislation is seeking to do that in a comprehensive fashion.

I read the statement of the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, last night in which she rebutted the statements made by some non-governmental organisations, NGOs, and some advocacy groups that this legislation was not thorough enough to cover the main areas they had sought to have covered. For example, with regard to health serves, they said that an enhanced medical card under the Health Amendment Act, known as a HAA card, was not provided, but the Minister said that had been covered. With regard to people living abroad, she said they were being catered for, that there would be a liaison person in the Health Service Executive dealing with that. With regard to women who lack the capacity to engage with the system personally - there are many in that particular position - the Minister said that the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Bill, which would be completed shortly in the House, would deal with that matter.

In view of the amount of communication we have received, particularly from contact.ie, about ensuring this legislation is watertight, I was very much reassured by the Minister's statement last night that this was the case. I hope the Minister of State, when replying to the Second Stage debate, will be able to reassure us in the same vein and that the advocacy groups, the non-governmental organisations, and the concerns of representatives of the women abroad and the women themselves have been fully catered for in this legislation.

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