Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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172. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the estimated annual, first- and full-year costs of extending the mother and baby homes redress scheme to 0-6-month-old babies, who are currently excluded. [28409/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme will provide financial payments to an estimated 34,000 people, some 19,000 of whom will also benefit from an enhanced medical card or health support payment. These benefits are in recognition of experiences while resident in Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. The overall cost of the Payment Scheme is estimated at €800 million.

The Government proposals for the Payment Scheme were developed following deliberations on the very complex issues in question. They were informed by a consultation process undertaken with survivors, as well as a report and proposals from an Interdepartmental Group (IDG). Government ultimately decided on proposals which were, in overall terms, broader than those proposed by the IDG and the recommendations from the Commission of Investigation.

Despite this broadening of eligibility criteria, an estimated 24,000 people who, as babies, spent less than 6 months in an institution, do not qualify for the Scheme. Chapter 5 of the provides a series of costings for different scenarios. Table 10, which applies to the scenario most relevant to this question, outlines an estimated total cost of approximately €1.124 billion to provide financial payments to all mothers and children (58,000 people) regardless of time spent in an institution.

The Payment Scheme represents one element of a comprehensive package of support measures agreed by the Government as part of the Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. The Action Plan is providing additional support to all those who may not be eligible for the Payment Scheme through other measures including access to birth information, the services of an appointed Special Advocate for Survivors and the establishment of a National Centre for Research and Remembrance.