Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together.

In advance of consideration of the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters by the Government, certain information relating to the report was disclosed in a newspaper report. In that context, I requested that an investigation be carried out. The investigation is being undertaken by a senior official in my Department and is being done in the context of a broader examination of the overall arrangements that are in place for the management of documents for Government meetings and the protection of their confidentiality. That process is ongoing.

What I can say is the Government is very clearly focused on making progress with the comprehensive action plan we have set out for the survivors and former residents. As the Deputies are aware, on 13 January 2021 last, I apologised on behalf of the Irish Government to those who spent time in a mother and baby home or a county home. The Government engaged with the groups and published an action plan for survivors and former residents of mother and baby and county home institutions on 16 November 2021. This plan recognises the failures of the past, acknowledges the hurt that continues to be felt by survivors, and seeks to rebuild a relationship of trust between the State and those who have been so gravely wronged.

The 22 actions set out in the action plan have been developed to respond to the broadest range of needs and wishes that survivors have expressed. Actions have been arranged into central themes that have emerged as fundamental in how the Government responds. These are: a survivor-centred approach, a formal State apology, access to personal information, enduring archive and database development, education and research, memorialisation, restorative recognition, and dignified burial.

Central to the development of each of these actions has been detailed and sustained engagement with survivors and their families. The establishment of the mother and baby institutions payment schemes will provide financial payments and an enhanced medical card to defined groups in acknowledgement of suffering experienced while resident in a mother and baby home and county home institution. The State will fund the scheme and it is estimated that it will cost approximately €800 million. The Government intends to seek contributions towards the cost of the scheme from the religious congregations that were involved in operating the institutions. The legislation required to establish the scheme is currently being developed as a matter of priority and it is intended that the scheme will open for applications as soon as possible in 2022.

As the Deputies know, on 12 January last, the Government published the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022. It passed Second Stage in this House last week and has been referred to the select committee for detailed examination.

Separately, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has taken possession of the archive of the commission of investigation and has established a dedicated information management unit to lead on the management of the commission's archive, including applications for access to these records. A professional archivist has been appointed to work within the unit to focus on the preservation of and public access to these records.

The draft certain institutional burials (authorised interventions) Bill underwent pre-legislative scrutiny in the first half of 2021 and the joint committee published its report on 15 July. It was clear from engagement with survivors and former residents that memorialisation was considered to be a very important part of the healing process for those affected. The Government also acknowledges that memorialisation plays a role in helping to remove the stigma and shame that has deeply affected so many. The commitment to a national memorial and records centre will be progressed by means of a group chaired by the Secretary General to the Government. Funding has been secured to support this process, which will develop an overarching vision and proposed approach for the creation of the national centre and which will be brought to Government for approval.

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