Claire Kerrane: Expand Mother and Baby Payment Scheme
Claire Kerrane attended a press conference with MEP Kathleen Function, Patricia Carey, the Special Advocate for Survivors, and two survivors excluded from the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme. She relays survivors' testimony and urges the Government to expand the scheme after highlighting allocation and spending figures.
Press conference and testimonies
Claire Kerrane describes listening to a survivor in his 70s who recounted abuse suffered while boarded out and a second survivor from Temple Hill, an institution she has raised in the Dail on multiple occasions. Both witnesses are excluded from the current payment scheme.
Scheme funding and exclusions
Kerrane notes the scheme was described as having an €800 million allocation, with €78 million spent and two and a half years elapsed in a five-year programme. She questions why so many survivors remain excluded and repeats the Special Advocate's call to widen eligibility.
Historical redress and supports
Kerrane places the debate in the wider context of past redress measures, recalling significant allocations for industrial school survivors that included financial, counselling, education and housing supports. She stresses that financial payment is only one element of meaningful redress.
Call to action and review
Claire Kerrane asks the Government to reconsider the exclusions and to expand the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme so survivors left out of the current terms can receive recognition and support. She emphasises the need for continued review of redress measures and supports for survivors.
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I've just attended a press conference held by my colleague Kathleen Function, MEP, Patricia Carey, the Special Advocate for Survivors, and two survivors who spoke at the conference who are excluded from the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme. It is so hard to look at a survivor now in his 70s who recounted the abuse that he faced when boarded out and that he lived with for so many years of his childhood. The other survivor was from Temple Hill, one of the institutions excluded, an institution I have referenced in this House very many times. We have a pot of €800 million for this institution payment scheme. €78 million of it is spent and we're two and a half years into a five-year scheme. I'm asking, please, can the scheme now be expanded, as the Special Advocate has looked for, to those survivors who have been excluded? One of the survivors said today they feel from the State, it's, we're sorry, but we're not that sorry. There are so many survivors excluded from the scheme. Can we please look to expand it, please? Again, I obviously wasn't at that. I think your colleague, Kathleen Function, you said an MEP was at it with Patricia Carey, I think you said. So again, as I said earlier, it's not that there's a pot, there's no pot anywhere, but a scheme was outlined and there was estimates as to what it would cost, but it's not as if there's a pot of money over there. I mean, we have, over the years, supported different categories of people in terms of redress relating to specific areas, industrial schools being the most significant one, which over a billion was allocated at that particular time. That was just financial, but there was much more than that, Alec, in terms of counselling and in terms of education supports, in terms of housing supports as well. And we continue to keep issues under review.
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