Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address the issues raised in this motion. Everyone here will agree that the State, together with the religious congregations, must acknowledge the indisputable wrongs that were visited on the women and children who spent time in mother and baby and county home institutions. As the Taoiseach said in his apology on behalf of the State in January of last year, they should not have been there and the shame is ours, not theirs. Throughout my two years in this role, I have worked to progress the State’s response to mother and baby institutions, mindful of the decades of complicity and inaction that have marked the State’s involvement in mother and baby institutions and their legacy. I know how deep that legacy runs, and the very personal pain and trauma that so many of our citizens endured. I have met many survivors over the past two years. I have had many people approach me and tell me their own experience in institutions, and the impact it has had on them. The different impacts of time spent in these institutions is impossible to disentangle and there are no easy answers when it comes to trying to remedy the grief and anguish. For each survivor of these institutions, the experience has had a unique and deeply personal impact.

It is not possible to monetise the suffering or the losses experienced in any payment scheme. It is also not possible to provide one remedy by way of compensation to all and for all, nor is it sufficient to do so. The Government’s Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Homes Institutions aims to provide an enduring response to the priority needs of all those concerned. The action plan, which recognises that redress means different things to different people, spans significant commitments across the areas of apology; access to personal information; health supports; financial payments; memorialisation; records, archives and databases; education and research; and dignified burial. Delivering on these commitments for survivors is a priority for myself and for the Government, with eight of the 22 commitments achieved and intensive work under way on many others.

First and foremost, the Government has ensured that counselling support is available to all survivors free of charge and with prioritised access. The Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 became law in June, and from 3 October statutory information and tracing services under the Act opened, guaranteeing people a long overdue legal right of access to their birth and early life information. After two decades of promises, this Government has finally delivered full and unredacted access to identity rights for adopted people and those who were boarded out. In the first two weeks, over 4,000 applications have been received under the new Act. In July the Institutional Burials Act 2022 also became law, and the Government approved my proposal to establish an independent office to lead an intervention at the site of the former mother and baby institution in Tuam. The treatment of children’s remains in Tuam is a stain on our national conscience. My hope is that this process will deliver answers that can bring some solace to the families who have been so deeply affected by this abhorrent situation. In March, the Government approved proposals for a national centre for research and remembrance. The centre will stand as a site of conscience, and will be a national memorial to honour equally all those who were resident in mother and baby homes, industrial schools, reformatories, Magdalen laundries and related institutions. It will comprise a museum and exhibition space; a research centre and repository of records related to institutional trauma in the 20th century, which will form part of the national archives; and a place for reflection and remembrance. The site for this centre, at Seán MacDermott Street, has already been transferred from Dublin City Council to the Office of Public Works.

Deputies will also be aware that I secured Government approval last week for the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill. Following its publication by the Bills Office, I will present this to Dáil Éireann next week. The scheme set out in the Bill, which is the largest of its kind in the history of the State, is nevertheless just one element of the overall Government response. The redress scheme proposed goes far beyond what the commission proposed, and, indeed, what was proposed by the interdepartmental group established to draw together a scheme. The commission recommended that pregnant women who entered mother and baby homes or county home institutions before 1974 would be eligible. We have gone beyond that recommendation, to ensure that the scheme includes all women who were resident in an institution at any point. The commission recommended that only children who were unaccompanied in a mother and baby home or county home institution would be eligible for a payment. We have gone beyond that recommendation, and the scheme will now include all children who were resident in a mother and baby home or county home institution for more than six months. The commission recommended a scheme in which 6,500 people would benefit, at a total cost of €400 million. We have gone substantially beyond that. The proposals contained in the State scheme will benefit 34,000 people, at a total cost of €800 million. Some 19,000 former residents will receive enhanced medical cards. It will be, in terms of numbers of beneficiaries, the largest redress scheme in the history of the State, recognising the huge impact of these institutions on Irish society.

For children who spent very short periods of time in an institution during their infancy, the Government’s action plan provides a response to their needs through the Birth Information and Tracing Act and the investment which has been made in new services under that Act. The legislation provides guaranteed access to birth certificates, as well as wider birth and early life information for those who have questions about their origins. This is the overwhelming priority need which has been expressed by people who as children were adopted or otherwise separated from their birth family. The Act also supports contact and family reunion by establishing a statutory tracing service and a contact preference register.

Since the Government approved the institutional payments scheme proposals, I have made further enhancements. I have improved the overall payments approach by introducing more refined payment bands that will benefit many applicants to the scheme. Previously, a person who was in an institution for five years and one month would have received the same payment as a person who was there for five years and 11 months. Under the new banded system, the person who was in the institution for five years and 11 months will receive a proportionately higher payment, recognising the longer period. I have also introduced a feature in the calculation process that will include periods of temporary absence of up to 180 days in the records of some applicants, enabling a more just approach for those impacted. It would be unjust to deny or limit access to the scheme on the basis that a person was absent from the instruction because they spent time in a hospital as a result of an illness contracted due to the appalling conditions in the institution. The scheme will recognise harsh conditions, emotional abuse and all other forms of harm, mistreatment, stigma and trauma experienced while resident in a mother and baby home or county home institution. However, in keeping with the views of survivors as expressed in the consultation process, the scheme will be non-adversarial with a low burden of proof. Applicants will not have to bring forward evidence of abuse, harm or mistreatment in order to benefit from the scheme. Rather, a general payment approach, based on time spent, will allow the State to shoulder the burden of proof and seek to ensure this scheme causes no further harm or trauma.

I am acutely aware of the need to deliver this scheme as swiftly as possible so that benefits can be accessed by many thousands of survivors and former residents. As the Bill travels through the Houses, I know I can count on the goodwill and good intent from all Deputies and Senators so that we can complete the legislative process promptly. In parallel with finalising the legislation, the significant work required to establish the scheme is under way. This work includes establishing an independent executive office, based out of my Department, to respond to applications and administer the payments. I want to assure survivors that we will be doing everything in our power to deliver the scheme as quickly as possible and to prioritise applications from older and more vulnerable survivors.

In closing, I would like to pay tribute to the immense resilience, courage, patience and constructive engagement of survivors and their supporters as the Government continues to work though these complex issues. No amount of money, legislation or memorialisation can ever truly undo the hurt that was done by these institutions. However, by vindicating the identity of people who were adopted or subject to illegal birth registration, by ensuring that the remains of the children buried at Tuam receive a respectful reburial and by bringing forward a payment scheme that will benefit 34,000 former residents, we are humbly acknowledging the State’s duty to atone for these appalling wrongs and seeking to rebuild the relationship of trust with the people who were so grievously wronged.

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