Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be able to speak to the Bill and I welcome the Minister's commitments. The Bill seeks to amend the Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Act 2015 and the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009. The Magdalen restorative justice ex gratiascheme was established in 2013 to provide women who worked and resided in Magdalen institutions with access to financial and health supports, including lump sums, cash payments, pensions and health and community care supports free of charge. Payments made as part of the scheme are disregarded as means if the recipient applies for the nursing home support scheme. In 2017, the Office of the Ombudsman published a report following an investigation of the administration of the Magdalen restorative justice scheme.

The report made a number of recommendations, including the expansion of the terms of the scheme to include women who worked in Magdalen laundries but resided elsewhere. On foot of these recommendations, the Department of Justice and Equality announced in May 2018 an addendum to the scheme that commenced in November 2018. The addendum extends the terms of the scheme to women residing in institutions adjoining Magdalen laundries. All payments resulting from successful applications to the newly-extended scheme arising from the addendum will be backdated to 1 August 2013.

The Minister indicated in his speech that the scheme has made payments to 734 women to June 2019, amounting to almost €30 million in payments. There have been 99 applications to the scheme under the terms of the addendum and stakeholders such as Justice for Magdalenes Research had previously called for an extension of the terms of the scheme. I support the legislation on behalf of the Rural Independent Group and we wish it a speedy passage as well.

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