Seanad debates
Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad
Mother and Baby Homes
10:30 am
Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This Commencement matter relates to the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023. I was hoping the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, would be here but, as I read the newspapers every day, I am aware he clearly has many pressing issues on his plate this morning. I understand and accept he cannot be with us but I am sorry that is the case.
I am seeking a clear timeline for the delivery of payments and other prescribed benefits for those who will qualify following the signing into law of the Act by the President on 11 July 2023. The Minister of State will be aware the mother and baby homes commission of investigation was chaired by Ms Yvonne Murphy. It was established in 2015 and reported in 2021, six years later. Some 59,000 mothers and 57,000 babies and children in the homes were reported on by the commission of investigation. Not all homes and institutions were included and neither were boarded-out children. The report's summary states: "The vast majority of children in the institutions were ‘illegitimate’ and, because of this, suffered discrimination for most of their lives." Unfortunately, that part of their journey has not yet come to a satisfactory conclusion as they await the opening of the mother and baby homes payment scheme and the full assessment of their applications.
The Act was passed through both Houses prior to the summer recess and prioritised for signing by the President. It was signed into law by him in mid-July having spent a year being debated by both Houses of the Oireachtas. I, along with many others, spent many hours scrutinising many provisions of the Bill during its passage. I acknowledge the Minister, who gave significant time and engagement to Members of both Houses. That was constructive and it is important to acknowledge it, as well as the work and commitment of his staff in ironing out many queries and difficulties as the legislation passed through the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Those who would benefit from the payment scheme and enhanced medical card are not getting any younger. Sadly, some of them have passed away, including in recent months. I acknowledge that the Minister's quarterly communication to survivors is ongoing. That is an important strand of communication and should continue, as his intention. I note a publication dated 9 October and available yesterday on gov.iestated the scheme will take several more months to be established. That is somewhat disappointing but those are the facts as presented and posted to gov.ieon 9 October. I ask the Minister to provide a timeline for when survivors can expect the payments and benefits they have been awaiting for so long.I would like to be able to give those answers to survivors who continue to correspond with me and my Seanad office. I visited the relevant section of gov.ielast night. The most recent post was on 9 October. In reply to the question, "Is the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme open for applications?", it states:
The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme is not yet open for applications.
[...]
Work is underway within the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to get the Scheme open for applications as soon as possible.
There is a sense of urgency to this. The Minister impressed upon us the importance of getting the legislation through the Houses. He insisted that he wanted to get it signed by the President and enacted. We should have some sort of indication of a timeline for when this process will be able to do what it is meant to do, namely, to provide a small measure of redress for people who grew up in these State institutions.
Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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As the Senator mentioned, I am making this statement on behalf of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman. I thank the Senator for raising the issue today, and I am happy to provide an update on the progress with regard to the delivery of this scheme to survivors and former residents.
As colleagues will be aware, the mother and baby institutions payment scheme will provide financial payments and health supports to eligible people in recognition of the circumstances they experienced in a mother and baby or county home institution. At an anticipated cost of €800 million, it is expected that 34,000 people will be eligible for financial payments under the scheme and 19,000 eligible for health supports. As such, it will be the largest scheme of its kind in the history of the State.
The scheme is also the centrepiece of the Government’s Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. The scheme, as the Senator mentioned, is underpinned by legislation, with the President signing the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act into law in July of this year. This Act allows for the establishment of an executive office in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to administer the scheme and the appointment of the chief deciding officer to head up that office. It also allows for the making of the necessary regulations which must be in place prior to the scheme opening and provides a lawful basis for access to information and records, which are essential for the processing of applications.
The Government, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman and I are acutely aware of the sense of urgency, to which the Senator alluded, surrounding the opening of the scheme. Intensive work is under way to establish the infrastructure needed to deliver the scheme and I will provide some detail on that now. I understand a number of months will be needed to conclude this work and open the scheme for applications.
As per the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023, the scheme will be administered by an executive office established within the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Following careful consideration of a number of important factors, including the need to open the scheme as soon as possible and the ability to be responsive and scale up and down to meet scheme demand, a blended operating model is being developed. This will provide for the chief deciding officer, appointed under the Act, to be supported by a core executive office based in the Department and also by an experienced third party. To this end, the Department is currently concluding a tendering process with a preferred bidder that has been identified following a procurement process.
All staff in the executive office, as well as the third party support team, will operate under the direction and supervision of the chief deciding officer and a comprehensive training programme for all staff involved in the scheme is being developed.
I understand that work is also under way on the development of an online application system. The Department recently made a call to survivors and former residents who may be interested in being part of a stakeholder reference group to provide feedback on the draft application materials for the payment scheme and I understand a very positive response was received.
An information awareness campaign will take place in Ireland and abroad in advance of the scheme opening. Once the scheme is open, applicants will be supported throughout the process with information and advice if they need it.
I stress that the scheme has been designed to be straightforward and non-adversarial. It will not require applicants to bring forward evidence of abuse or harm. In relation to an applicant's time in an institution, all an applicant to the scheme will need to tell the executive office is the name of the institution or institutions the applicant spent time in and the dates the applicant was there or approximate dates, if known. The executive office will then be able to undertake searches of institutional records.
We are conscious that despite this, some survivors may still find it difficult to engage with the scheme. I would like to take this opportunity to remind all that the Government's action plan response includes the provision of counselling support, through the national counselling service in the HSE, free of charge, to all survivors and former residents.
Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for setting out matters comprehensively there. It is somewhat disappointing that it appears that we may not have a scheme up and running and paying out as envisaged this year. The Minister committed to having it in place and fully functioning in 2023. I accept this is complex, but it should not be. The scheme was designed not to be complex in itself and, as the Minister of State said, not adversarial.
I have some issues of concern with the Minister of State's response. First, I note the scheme will be delayed, but it is coming. People have waited a long time. It is only a matter of months and I suppose we have to take some encouragement from that.
Second, I would have a concern about online applications. Many of the people who grew up in these institutions left formal education between the ages of 12 and 14, not by their own choice. They have numeracy and literacy issues. More importantly, they have their own pride and their dignity in wishing their business to remain confidential. They may not wish to avail of or seek a third party to assist them in filling an online form. I would have an issue with that. The Minister of State might bring that back as a sensitive concern.
Finally, I would ask that the Minister would keep us, the Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas who passed this legislation, briefed. Certainly, I would like to think for the next three months that we would have a monthly update as to progress on the scheme we, as legislators, passed into law and expect the Executive to fully implement.
Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I note what the Senator says around the online application system. I mentioned that there is a stakeholder reference group there where members can provide feedback on draft applications.
In terms of the scheme being advanced as soon as possible, I also outlined, from the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, some of the issues that need to be looked at and some of the measures in terms of making sure that there is an information awareness campaign and such like prior to the scheme being open. I appreciate it also needs to be expedited and I will bring that back to the Department as well.
I will also bring back the Senator's request around being informed on a monthly or a three-monthly basis on the matter.