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

Today, I am bringing the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022 before this House. This Bill, when enacted, will allow the Government to deliver a statutory scheme that will provide financial payments and a form of enhanced medical card to thousands of mother and baby and county home institution survivors.

I look forward to working with Senators to discuss the Bill further over the coming weeks, and I extend my thanks to those Senators who were on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and contributed to the pre-legislative scrutiny report. I know how important this Bill is to survivors and I am wholly committed to delivering this scheme as quickly as possible.

The payment scheme is a key measure in the Government’s action plan for survivors and former residents of mother and baby and county home institutions, which aims to provide a holistic response to the most pressing needs of survivors. Progressing the action plan, which includes commitments across a number of key areas, has been a key priority for me. We have delivered the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022, which has already provided access to birth and early life information to more than 3,500 people. We have passed the Institutional Burials Act 2022, which enables us to afford the children interred in Tuam the dignity and respect they deserve. Works will commence at that site later this year.

Last November, the Government approved a process now under way to appoint a special advocate for survivors, whose remit will include all survivors of historical institutional trauma. The Government has also approved high-level proposals for a national centre for research and remembrance, to be located on the site of the former Magdalen laundry on Sean MacDermott Street in Dublin city centre. This centre will stand as a national memorial and site of conscience to honour equally all of those who were resident in mother and baby and county home institutions, industrial schools, reformatories, Magdalen laundries and related institutions.

Moving to this Bill, the Government’s proposals for the payment scheme mean that financial payments will be made to an estimated 34,000 people and a form of enhanced medical card will be provided to an estimated 19,000 people. This will be provided at a cost of approximately €800 million. This will be the largest scheme of its kind in the history of the State in terms of beneficiaries, recognising the huge number of individuals who were impacted by these institutions. The scheme will recognise the time spent and the harsh conditions, emotional abuse and all other forms of mistreatment, stigma, and trauma that was experienced by people while they were resident in these institutions.

The Government recognises, however, that no amount of financial payment or service provision could make up for the immense pain and suffering endured by so many of our citizens whose lives have been impacted by the shameful legacy of mother and baby institutions in Ireland.

Following the publication of the general scheme of this Bill in March of last year, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth conducted pre-legislative scrutiny. I am grateful to the members of that committee for its robust examination of the legislative proposals. I also appreciate the committee's acknowledgment of the features of the scheme which it welcomed, including the low burden of proof built into the design of the scheme and the moves beyond the commission of investigation’s recommendations, particularly regarding the inclusion in the scheme of survivors who were resident in the institutions post 1973. This low burden of proof has been achieved by basing the approach to the scheme on time spent in an institution. I carefully considered the report published by the committee in July last year, and its recommendations, as the Bill was being drafted.

Overall, the published Bill represents an improvement on the general scheme, and further improvements were made during the process of debate in the Dáil. I have been able to incorporate some of the committee’s recommendations into the Bill. The scheme has been designed to be non-adversarial and straightforward for applicants. Applicants will not be required to bring forward evidence of abuse or retell their story in order to be able to apply to this scheme.

With regard to the recommended expansion of the scheme to cover additional institutions that were not investigated by the commission of investigation, the Bill provides for the list of institutions in Schedule 1 to be expanded, if it were to come to light that an institution fulfilled a similar function with regard to single women and their children as did the 14 mother and baby institutions. I can also confirm, in response to another recommendation arising from pre-legislative scrutiny, that the Bill provides for applicants to be financially supported in obtaining legal services in two circumstances, namely, where an affidavit is required and if they wish to seek legal advice at the point of accepting a payment under the scheme and, thus, signing a legal waiver.

Beyond this, it is important to note that the scheme will, as I have stated, adopt a non-adversarial approach and applicants will not be required to bring forward evidence of abuse suffered. As applicants will be supported in making an application to the scheme and throughout that process, it will not be necessary to obtain independent legal advice to make an application to or engage with the scheme at any point in the process.

Regarding the accessibility of the scheme and the language used around it, my officials are working hard on making the scheme, associated communications and the application process as accessible as possible.When the scheme is operational, a comprehensive communications campaign will be undertaken both in Ireland and abroad. My officials are currently working on the overall communications strategy for the scheme.

The recommendation that a stakeholder advisory group be established is also being taken on board as part of the design and roll-out of the scheme, with plans in development to put in place a stakeholder reference group to provide direction and feedback on communications and application material to the scheme.

I will now outline the key parts of the Bill, as passed by Dáil Éireann. Part 1 provides for a number of preliminary matters, which include commencement; the payment of expenses for the administration of the Act; and the making of regulations and orders. Part 1 also provides for definitions relevant to the Bill. A key definition is that of a “relevant person”, encompassing a person who was resident as a child or a mother, or both, in one of the institutions listed in Schedule 1 and is, therefore, eligible to apply for the scheme.

Part 2 provides for the establishment of the scheme and its duration, guaranteeing that all applications received before the closing date of the scheme will be processed. The scheme will be administered by an independent executive office, the office of the chief deciding officer of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme, which will be situated in my Department.

The office of the chief deciding officer will widely promote awareness of the scheme, in Ireland and abroad. It will prepare an annual report, which I will lay before each House of the Oireachtas. While it has always been the intention to undertake a public awareness campaign both in Ireland and abroad, due to the large number of survivors living abroad, this was made explicit in the Bill on foot of an Opposition amendment tabled on Committee Stage in the Dáil.

Part 2 also provides for the dissolution of the office of the chief deciding officer on a date to be appointed after the scheme ends. After dissolution day, the powers and functions of the chief deciding officer will transfer to the Minister. In addition, any records in the possession of the chief deciding officer will be deposited with the Minister and become departmental records to be managed in accordance with the National Archives Act 1986. The records will also be managed in accordance with the Data Protection Acts and the general data protection regulation, GDPR.

Part 3 provides for all aspects of the application, determination and notification processes for applicants. It also provides for the arrangements in respect of internal reviews and the independent appeals process, where an applicant is not happy with a determination on his or her application.

The benefits available to applicants under the scheme are a general payment; a work-related payment; an enhanced medical card; and a health support payment. The overall determination of an applicant's eligibility for benefits under the scheme is grounded in his or her period of residence in one of the institutions at Schedule 1 of the Bill. The general and work-related payment amounts rise based on time spent in one of the institutions. The payment rates for these two financial payments are set out in Schedule 2.

The Bill sets out what people need to do to make an application to the scheme. One application can cover time spent in different institutions, or in institutions as either a mother or a child or both, so only one application to the scheme is required. However, if an additional institution is added to Schedule 1, a person will be entitled to make a further application in respect of that institution.

The Bill allows for the chief deciding officer to afford priority to applications, having regard to the age or state of health of the applicant, if he or she considers it is in the interest of fairness to do so.

To support the assessment of applications, the Bill provides for the office of the chief deciding officer to be able to search the copy of the commission of investigation’s archive and database, held by my Department, to establish an applicant’s period of residency in a relevant institution. This will facilitate a more user-friendly approach for applicants in terms of engaging with the scheme. The chief deciding officer will also have the authority to request relevant information from an “information source”, where they hold relevant institutional records that are not held in the commission’s archive and database.

In the limited circumstances where records may not be available, the Bill allows for affidavits to be sought at application stage by the chief deciding officer. Applicants will be provided with support towards the cost of providing an affidavit where they are requested to do so in the scheme.

A formal notice of determination will issue to applicants in respect of their application and, where relevant, a formal offer will issue in respect of each of the benefits under the scheme. An applicant will have six months to accept or reject this offer. Applicants will also have the right to request a review of the determination, and should send this request within 60 days of receiving the notice of determination.

The period of six months is provided to give applicants enough time to avail of all independent legal advice, if they wish, in relation to the legal waiver. The waiver would only be signed at the point where the applicant accepts an offer of a payment, under the scheme, so the applicant will have full knowledge of what he or she is being offered prior to signing.

Applicants who were resident in a relevant institution for a minimum of six months will be eligible for a form of enhanced medical card. The card will enable the holder to access the services specified in the Bill free of charge. Applicants who are deemed eligible for an enhanced medical card but live outside of the State may opt to receive a once-off payment of €3,000 instead of the card.

The Bill provides that a person can apply on behalf of a “relevant person” in specified circumstances. An application may also be made for a general payment or work-related payment on behalf of a person who would have been eligible to apply but has died since the date of the State apology, so since 13 January 2021.

Part 4 contains provisions on a range of ancillary matters. These include the power to do the following - to make regulations; to prescribe a person as an information source where they hold relevant records; the power of those administering the scheme to process personal data and special categories of personal data for the purposes of fulfilling functions set out in the Bill; a prohibition on the disclosure of confidential information by those administering the scheme; and penalties. In addition, Part 4 provides that general payments and work-related payments made under the scheme are exempt from income tax, capital gains tax and capital acquisitions tax.

Furthermore, Part 4 provides for the carrying out of a review of the operation of the scheme after two years and again at the end of the scheme. It was agreed, following an Opposition amendment on Committee Stage in the Dáil, that these reviews would commence no later than six months after the two-year or end of scheme time periods. Part 4 also provides that an additional institution may be added to the schedule of eligible institutions by way of a ministerial order.

As I stated earlier, this legislation represents one part of the Government's wider response to the legacy of mother and baby institutions. All of us who have engaged with survivors know that they have different priorities. It is the responsibility of Government to seek to respond to all these needs and to ensure that the awful legacy of mother and baby institutions is fully remembered. This is why we passed the Birth Information and Tracing Act which provides, at long last, a legal right to birth information to thousands of adoptees. It is why we provide free counselling services to all those who passed through mother and baby institutions. It is why we passed legislation to ensure that this year we will see the site in Tuam excavated and the remains of the children buried there exhumed. It is why we supported memorials across the country. We have provided funding for educational bursaries. It is why we will have, on Seán McDermott Street, a sited memorialisation so that future generations will know the truth of what happened in these institutions in the 20th century.

I will conclude by reiterating my appreciation to survivors and their families for their ongoing patience as the Government continues to work to develop this scheme. I want to assure survivors that we are doing everything in our power to deliver this payment scheme as quickly as possible. Subject to the legislation being passed and enacted, and the administrative structures being in place, it is our hope that this scheme will open for applications this year.

I commend the Bill to the House.