Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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539. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether she will consider a location (details supplied) to be equivalent to a mother and baby institution for the purposes of determining eligibility to receive a financial award under the mother and baby institutions payment scheme, where an individual spent time at both this location and at a scheduled institution, but insufficient time at the latter to qualify for an award. [53665/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme provides payments and health benefits to people who spent time in any of the Mother and Baby or County Home Institutions that were identified by the Mother and Baby Homes 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.

Chapter 2 of the Social History section of the Commission of Investigation report - www.gov.ie/en/publication/89e43-chapter-2-institutions/ - details the different types of institutions that existed and whether they could be considered Mother and Baby Institutions. St Clare's is described as an adoption society that is associated with St Joseph's, Stamullen, which is listed as a residential children's home. It did not provide ante and post-natal facilities, and therefore is not included in the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme.

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 should be noted that the Payment Scheme is just one of a large suite of actions being undertaken to respond to the legacy of these institutions under the Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. For those who spent shorter periods of time in institutions as young children, the overwhelming priority need which has been expressed by survivors has been access to records. As of 29th September 2025, under the Birth Information and Tracing Act, the Adoption Authority of Ireland and Tusla have completed over 16,700 applications for information. All applications are processed in accordance with statutory timeframes.

Other actions in the Action Plan include the provision of counselling supports, the services of the Special Advocate, both already in place, as well as the ongoing development of a National Centre for Research and Remembrance.