Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairperson. It is nice to see him in the Chair for this debate. I know how passionately he has spoken about this issue since I have come to the Seanad. It is appropriate that he is in the Chair.

I welcome the Minister to the House on behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party. We welcome this discussion today. Even though it is just a discussion on the mother and baby institutions, it is so important that we use every opportunity to assure and to reassure the people that we are taking this matter seriously and that we are moving swiftly on it. Sometimes when a Government comes into power, such matters are addressed and it says it is going to do this, that and the other. However, in fairness, there has been swift action on this matter. I am sure that will continue.

Earlier this year the Taoiseach apologised for this terrible episode. He said at that time that the State did not uphold its duty of care and thereby failed these women and children. He acknowledged that an apology alone was not enough but only a first step. The Minister said today, as did the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte earlier this week, that there are no easy answers when it comes to providing a remedy to the significant grief and anguish caused to the women and children who spent time in these institutions. My good colleague, Senator Warfield, and I were just discussing this outside before the debate started. It is heartbreaking for the people who went through all of this.

In many respects, it is not possible to replace what has been lost to survivors. No financial reward or no service provision can take back the hurt, the loss and the distress that were suffered through decades of failure. Nevertheless, the Government is earnest in its wish to provide an enduring response to the priority needed for all concerned.

The Government made a number of commitments in January 2021 to respond to the priority needs and concerns of those who spent time in those institutions. In the 11 months since the report of the commission of investigation was published, we have seen the advanced legislation to allow the exhumation at Tuam. We have seen the draft legislation allowing access to birth and early life information and to open the commission’s archive to more than 300 survivors. As the Minister said, work is under way to establish a national memorial and records centre related to institutional trauma during the 20th century, as well as the creation of a children's fund to honour the memory of the children who died in mother and baby homes by providing supports to children who experience disadvantage in the present day.

On 16 November 2021, the Government approved proposals for the mother and baby institutions payment scheme and published an action plan for survivors and former residents of mother and baby county homes institutions. As said by the Minister, he will provide approximately 34,000 former residents of the institutions with a financial payment and 19,000 with an enhanced medical card. It goes well beyond the recommendation in the final report of the commission of investigation. In terms of estimated beneficiaries it will be the largest scheme ever of this type in the history of the State, valued at €800 million. People might say that there is a lot more to this than the financial aspect of it. However, the financial aspect is truly important as well.

I trust the Government will act swiftly to progress the legislation underpinning the scheme and will design it so that applications from older and vulnerable survivors will be prioritised. Consultations with survivors highlighted that they wanted the scheme, as the Minister said, that is non-adversarial, simple and based on trust. Adopting an approach that does not require applicants to bring forward evidence of abuse or harm suffered was the aim of mitigating to the greatest extent possible the risk that applicants would be retraumatised by engaging with that process. To achieve this goal, the payments will be based on residency, as Members will know.

Significant contributions will be sought from the relevant religious congregations towards the cost of the scheme, and I welcome that as well. This is one element of the overall Government response to the needs of survivors through a variety of commitments, including counselling for all, access to information and records, memoralisation, financial payments, health support and other key initiatives. The Government is committed to advancing those actions in a survivors-centred manner and to ongoing engagement with dialogue with survivors.

This is an important debate. It is important that we continue to discuss these things. I welcome the Minister’s statement this evening. As I said earlier, I hope things will move swiftly for the sake of the people who have suffered way too much.