Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission calls for changes to Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme

The payment scheme for survivors of the mother and baby institutions has opened today for applications in spite of widespread criticism.

The scheme, will provide financial payments and health supports to survivors of the mother and baby institutions who were born, worked or lived in the Catholic Church run institutions.

Eligibility criteria for the Mother and Baby Institutions payment scheme is open to for mothers who stayed in these institutions for one night or more for reasons relating to their pregnancy, the birth, or care of their child.

The scheme is also open to applications from people who were children who were adopted, boarded out and fostered or were resident in a relevant institution for longer than six months.

However, it is estimated that 24,000 survivors will be excluded under this six-month stay requirement, which has proven to be controversial.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission released a statement today which said that the organisation "welcomed the scheme" but that "but reiterated a number of recommendations that would improve the compliance of the Act with recognised human rights and equality standards".

The Commission asked for the 180 day stay limit to be lifted saying that: "The 180 day period is not an indicator of whether a child suffered harm, such as from the forced separation of mother and child".

In addition, the IHREC called for the removed of the 180 day stay requirement be removed for access to a medical card as "We see no rational connection between the potential harm suffered and the length of stay requirement".

The statement also read: "Further, we have called for reparations to not be limited to those resident in institutions which were investigated by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes".

The group criticised the 180 day window for the work related payment saying that: "Given the nature of these institutions, the work undertaken by the women has to be regarded as compulsory as they could not derive the benefit from their work".

Deirdre Malone, Director of IHREC said, “While we welcome the Scheme, we are gravely concerned that some people who were resident in Mother and Baby Institutions or who were boarded out are arbitrarily excluded from redress.

The Scheme must be amended so that all arbitrary criteria, such as the 180 day eligibility rule, does not exclude victims and survivors of relevant institutions from redress.”

There has been some speculation that the 180 day stay rule is put in place to minimise the amount of compensation Mother and Baby institution survivors are entitled to.

TD and Leader of the Social Democrats Holly Cairns reacted to the opening of applications today by describing the six-month stay requirement in the scheme as a “red herring” in an attempt to reduce the amount of compensation.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Ms Cairns said it was “callous” of the Government to introduce such an “arbitrary” rule.

Speaking to Hot Press shortly after the publication of the Commission on Mother and Baby Homes' report in 2021, Clann Project directors Dr Maeve O'Rourke said: "It's very common, when a government has been involved in gross and systematic human rights violations, that it doesn't want to release the information".