Written answers
Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Mother and Baby Homes
Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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1261. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the status of an appeal by a person (details supplied) for redress through the mother and baby institutions payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1593/25]
Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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1262. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the status of an appeal by a person (details supplied) for redress through the mother and baby institutions payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1594/25]
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1261 and 1262 together.
While I try to be helpful at all times in the parliamentary process, the Deputy will be aware that I cannot be involved in individual cases and cannot comment on same.
The legislation underpinning the Payment Scheme - the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023 - specifically provides for the explicit independence of the Chief Deciding Officer in administering the application process and making decisions on applications. Therefore, it would be inappropriate for me to engage in the process in relation to the status of individual applications.
In addition to a range of applicant supports such as a help-line, public representatives can contact the Payment Scheme Office via a dedicated email address paymentschemereps@equality.gov.ie if they are assisting constituents in relation to the Scheme.
It is ultimately the aim of the Payment Scheme Office to ensure the correct benefits are made available to the correct applicants in as timely a manner as possible.
In these cases, I suggest that the applicants in question contact the helpline directly - 01 522 9992 - and I am sure they will be assisted appropriately.
Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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1263. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of people in total still awaiting a decision on their application to the mother and baby home's institutions payment scheme; the number of people waiting for an appeal decision; the number of decisions pending; the number of people that have applied to the scheme since its inception; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1595/25]
Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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1264. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of money in total paid out to date on successful applications to the mother and baby institutions payment scheme; the reasons for declining applications; the length of time on average appeals are taking, including the longest appeal time to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1596/25]
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1263 and 1264 together.
The Deputy has sought some statistics pertaining to the operation of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme which I provide here up to 31 December 2024.
Applications received | Decisions | Awaiting decision | Reviews | Review decision pending | Average review time | Total Payments made or in process of being made |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5,997* | 5,031 | 341 | 433 | 357 | 105 days | €55 million |
Note:
* A number of these applications were ineligible or were withdrawn and 420 are incomplete applications. In those 420 cases, applicants are being supported by the Payment Scheme Office in order to provide the outstanding information required so that their application can move forward. This could be, for example, a supporting document such as certified photo ID.
The Deputy has asked about appeals, of which there have been just 9 to date. In the Scheme, if an applicant is dissatisfied with a decision on their application, they first may request a review - and only after a review, they may request an appeal. As such, I have provided the data pertaining to reviews on the basis that I believe this is the information essentially sought by the Deputy.
Requesting a review (or indeed an appeal) is a very straightforward process for the applicant but it rightly triggers a very comprehensive assessment of all aspects of the application within the Payment Scheme Office. Ultimately a detailed report is prepared, followed by a thorough quality-check process before it is provided, together with the decision, to the applicant. The timeline for reviews is slower than I would like but is now decreasing as improvements in processes in the Payment Scheme Office take hold. Staff there are constantly working to improve the applicant experience and reduce processing times for each stage of an application, taking on board feedback from survivors and other stakeholders, while upholding the integrity of the Scheme through proper and robust validation processes. It is ultimately the aim of the Payment Scheme Office to ensure the correct award amount is paid to the correct applicant in as timely a manner as possible.
Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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1265. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth whether he has had discussions with the survivor's advocate (details supplied) on the possible expansion of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme to other institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1597/25]
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My appointment of Patricia Carey as Special Advocate for Survivors took effect on 25 March 2024.
The role of the Special Advocate is to promote the collective interests of survivors, as expressed by them, and to amplify their voices as a central, essential input to Government deliberations on matters which affect them. Patricia's remit encompasses Mother and Baby Institutions, County Home Institutions, Magdalen Laundries, Industrial and Reformatory Schools, and related institutions, and those adopted, boarded out or the subject of an illegal birth registration.
In this important role, Patricia has already embarked on a substantive engagement process, meeting and engaging with individual survivors and people affected, with survivor groups, as well as with partner and support organisations in Ireland and overseas. Patricia also regularly engages with my department's officials on the Mother and Baby Institution Payment Scheme and other initiatives within the Government's Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. As I would expect, Patricia advocates compellingly on behalf of survivors and she has raised a variety of issues, including consideration of institutions not included in the Payment Scheme.
The Payment Scheme is designed to provide payments and other benefits to people who spent time in one or more of the Mother and Baby or County Home Institutions, that were identified by the Commission of Investigation as having a main function of providing sheltered and supervised ante and post-natal facilities to single mothers and their children. The institutions covered by the Payment Scheme are set out in Schedule 1 to the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023.
The Government recognises that there are people who suffered stigma, trauma and abuse in other institutions. If it were to come to light that an institution, in which the State had a regulatory or inspection function, fulfilled a similar function with regard to single women and their children as those included in the Payment Scheme, section 49 of the Act provides that the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, may insert an additional institution into the Schedule.
It is important to emphasise that the Payment Scheme is just one element of the Government’s response to the country’s complex legacy of Mother and Baby Institutions. Of the seven major commitments set out in the Government Action Plan for Survivors, six are now delivered and in place, while the seventh is well underway. Key actions include access to birth information, the services of the Special Advocate and counselling support, all already in place, as well as the ongoing development of a National Centre for Research and Remembrance.
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