Mother and Baby Homes Redress Scheme
The Commission’s long-awaited report has finally been published and the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation has recommended that a state apology, redress and access to their birth information should be given to survivors of the Mother and Baby Homes. There were some horrific findings including confirmation that about 9,000 children died in the 18 homes under investigation over the period from 1922 – 1998. That accounted for about 15% of all the children who were in the institutions during this period. The inquiry had originally been set up to examine:
- The entry and exit arrangements at the homes
- Living conditions
- Postmortems
- Burials
- Vaccine trials
- Whether or not residents were treated differently on any grounds such as race, disability and religion.
Redress
In terms of redress, the report notes that redress can be:
- Financial or
- In the form of enhanced services.
The Commission considers that “services such as counselling and enhanced medical cards should be made available to those former residents who need them”. The report also goes on to say “The State does have an obligation not to discriminate between people in similar situations. Financial redress has been awarded in the past to a number of groups. If redress is being considered for former residents of Mother and Baby Homes, the relevant comparable redress schemes are the Residential Institutions Redress Scehme (RIRS) – for the children and the Magdalen laundries scheme – for the mothers”.
Hartnett Hayes Solicitors LLP are experienced in acting on behalf of people in the context of Redress schemes. We have previously advised clients in securing redress from other statutory schemes such as under the Residential Institutions Redress Board.
If you need advice in relation to this potential scheme or accessing information previously denied, do not hesitate to contact us.
