Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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204. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if issues relating to the mother and baby homes are near a resolution; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7396/19]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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205. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the position relating to occupants of the various mother and baby homes ,including the Magdalen laundries, Bethany Home and others; if compensation has been paid, is pending or otherwise; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7397/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 204 and 205 together.

The Commission was established by Government in February 2015 to investigate concerns related to the institutional care of unmarried mothers and their babies during the period 1922 to 1998. The Commission is tasked with providing a full account of what happened to vulnerable women and children in these institutions. Following a request from the Commission, Government granted an extension to the time frame for the delivery of its final Report. The Commission is due to report in February 2020.

The scope of the Commission’s remit includes several specific areas of practice and procedure in the care, welfare, entry arrangements and exit pathways for the women and children who were residents of 14 named institutions and the representative sample of County Homes identified by the Commission.

The Government is satisfied that this independent Commission has sufficient scope to examine the broad range of public concerns, and to make a determination on their relevance to the central issues in question, and where appropriate to make any recommendations to Government which the Commission deems necessary.

The Commissions of Investigation Act 2004 provides an effective mechanism to investigate complex and sensitive matters of significant public concern. The Act gives the Commission robust powers to compel persons to produce information and answer questions. It is important to recognise that a statutory Commission is fully independent in the conduct of its investigations. The precise approach to examination of evidence are matters for the Commission to decide and progress.

The approach being taken provides a clear and deliberate emphasis on the experiences of women and children who spent time in Mother and Baby Homes. Accordingly, the Terms of Reference focus on these institutions.

While the Magdalene Laundries did not function as Mother and Baby Homes, their role as entry and exit pathways will be examined and these institutions are also included in the Social History module of the Commission's work. A restorative justice ex-gratia scheme was established for former residents of these Laundries, however this scheme is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality.

In its Second Interim Report the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes made a recommendation that the decision to exclude unaccompanied children who were resident in Mother and Baby Homes, including the Bethany Home, from the Residential Institutions Redress Act should be re-examined by Government.

As the Deputy will be aware, my colleague the Minister for Education and Skills is responsible for the Residential Institutions Redress Act, 2002 legislation and related arrangements. I understand that the redress scheme established under the act has not been extended to any additional institution since 2005 and related issues have been considered by previous Government's on a number of occasions.

In its examination of these matters in 2017, the Government decided it was not possible to consider any such arrangements in advance of the findings and conclusions of the Commission on relevant matters. When the Commission delivers its final report, its conclusions on all matters regarding the treatment of former residents of Mother and Baby Homes will be taken into careful consideration when determining the State's response.