Dáil debates

Thursday, 7 July 2022

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions

Residential Institutions

11:30 am

Photo of Jennifer Murnane O'ConnorJennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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90. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will outline progress made under the commitments set out in An Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36702/22]

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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What progress has been made under the commitments set out in An Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions? People urgently need to know exactly how this is progressing and when the action will take effect on the ground. We can get lost in the whole process and fail to understand what people really care about which is the actual change as it affects them.

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Since its publication last November, there has been strong progress in implementing many of the key commitments in the action plan. Of the 22 actions, eight have already been completed while 12 are in progress. Key achievements include the enactment of the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022, to conclusively address the wrongful denial of people's identity rights; the launch of a comprehensive public information campaign and the establishment of a new contact preference register under the Act, paving the way for information and tracing services to open in October 2022; the passage through the Houses of the Institutional Burials Bill 2022, having gone through the Seanad last night, and referral to the President for his consideration, which will provide the legal basis for an intervention at Tuam; and the publication of heads of Bill of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme Bill, to provide financial payments and a form of enhanced medical card to eligible applicants. The heads were referred to the relevant Oireachtas joint committee for pre-legislative scrutiny and I will receive the report of the committee shortly.

In addition, good progress is being made on the national centre for research and remembrance. Following Government approval of the high-level proposals for the centre on 29 March, a steering group was established and met on three occasions. Earlier this week, Dublin City Council voted to transfer the proposed site for the centre to the Office of Public Works, marking another step towards the development of this important national site of conscience. Work also continues on local memorialisation and, in this regard, a consultative process with survivor advocacy groups and representatives, led by independent facilitators, took place throughout June. Importantly, dedicated and professional counselling support continues to be available nationwide with priority access of the services given to survivors.

In addition to an annual progress report, which will be laid before the Houses towards the end of the year, my Department continues to prepare quarterly progress updates. On 31 May, the second of these updates was issued directly to every person who provided their contact information to the Department's dedicated mailing list. The update was also published on the Department's website.

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. Many of the victims of the mother and baby homes are very anxious about when the payments and enhanced medical cards will be provided. People live in a practical world and they have to survive. Will the Minister give an indication of how and when the payments will be made and enhanced medical cards will be provided? Has an analysis been done on the age profile of the people involved who are likely to receive compensation? One of the problems is that many of them, by definition, must be very elderly at this point. Therefore, every year that passes before we get to the stage of providing payments, more people will have passed away or another part of their life will be gone, which will shorten the benefit of those payments to them considerably.

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I am acutely aware of the importance of getting both the financial payments and enhanced medical cards to the people who need them as a matter of urgency. That is why the drafting of this detailed Bill was done at pace. The pre-legislative scrutiny process is almost over. I will seek to have the Bill passed early in the autumn term. It has always been my hope that the first payments will begin to be drawn down before the end of this year or very early next year. That is the timeframe we are working towards. As the Deputy knows, it is a scheme that covers a lot of people. Some 34,000 survivors will come under the remit of this scheme. It has a value of €800 million. Not until people receive the tangible benefits of this scheme will its benefit be fully understood.

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Does the Minister have an age breakdown of the 34,000 people, for example, that 10% are over 90 years of age, as well as the percentage of those aged between 80 and 90, 70 and 80, and so on. In looking at the age profile, he will find that it is quite elderly and will, therefore, be aware of the critical urgency of moving forward. Once the Bill is enacted, I presume a scheme will be put in place. How simple will that scheme be to access for people, or will it be complex? These are the practical questions people face in trying to get financial compensation or an enhanced medical card. Will he outline in more detail the age cohorts and the process involved? Presumably, an application will have to be made. How complex will that application be and what process will the administrative system go through before the payments are awarded?

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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There is a breakdown of age which I do not have to hand but I will communicate it to the Deputy. It spans a wide range. There are people at the edge of the range who are elderly, as the Deputy mentioned. We recognise that many of those eligible were children when they were formerly resident. There are also a number of people who are middle aged.

In terms of the process, we are working in advance of the passage of the Bill to create an executive office within my Department that will oversee the entire process. We are working to make sure that the application process is as simple as possible, with a simple, single application form irrespective of whether an individual is seeking a payment or advanced medical card or both. In the case of someone who was in a mother and baby or a county institution covered by the Institutional Burials Bill, the executive office will access the records to see if there is evidence that they were in place.

The burden of work, therefore, will be placed on the executive office rather than on individual survivors. We are very conscious of making this simple and swift.