Clarification needed from Housing Minister on Mother and Baby Home redress
Redress for those who were in Mother and Baby Homes is causing “upset and embarrassment” for survivors due to systemic confusion around its payment and services.
Social Democrats councillors Jesslyn Henry and Noelle Brown sought clarification around the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme at the most recent meeting of Dublin City Council. They say that while social welfare means tests often exclude one-off compensation payments, there have been published guidelines in relation to this scheme.
“This lack of clarity is causing stress and confusion for survivors accessing housing supports through city councils and county councils,” they stated in a joint motion.
Cllr Henry highlighted Ireland’s “terrible history of incarceration” and commended that “women who did nothing wrong but to be pregnant out of wedlock” are finally getting monetary compensation. However, she explained that “lack of proper communication” between the council and Department of Housing has meant there’s uncertainty about whether their redress income should impact things like increased rent for those in social housing.
This is not the only issue that the redress scheme has brought up, as Cllr Brown explained that when the scheme first began it "excluded 40% of survivors, amounting to 28,000 people." “For survivors, mostly older people who managed to navigate a difficult online process to apply, they were forced to sign a waiver in order to receive payment,” she said.
"The paltry sums offered included €5,000 for the forced disappearance of a child either through forced adoption or death, which in many cases resulted in a lack of burial records for thousands of children.”
Another aspect of the scheme was an "enhanced medical card,” which included services such as GP visits and approved prescribed drugs. However, Cllr Brown said many who tried to use the card “experience embarrassment and upset” as medical professionals often “had no idea what the card was.”
This saw survivors forced to “explain their own personal history in public spaces” in a “violation of their privacy.” To add further insult to injury, Cllr Brown said after trying to contact the HSE, survivors were often met with “people on the other end of the phone who had no knowledge of the card either.”
“And now, because there’s no published guidelines in relation to the one-off redress payments and housing supports they are facing unacceptable barriers, upset, and embarrassment, which is leaving many survivors saying ‘I wish I’d never applied for redress,” she said.
The manager’s response in Dublin City Council was that their opinion is compensation from the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme “should not be classified as income and should be considered a payment that is once-off and outside the pattern of a person’s income.” The Council stated they will prepare a letter seeking clarification on the guidelines for the scheme.
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