Review into Mother and Baby Homes payment scheme must be 'more than just tea and sympathy'

SINN FÉIN MEP Kathleen Funchion has said that there is not enough being done by the government to make amends for the trauma caused by institutional abuse in Ireland. 

She was speaking to The Journal about the administration of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme, a review of which must be commenced by 20 September. No date has yet been given for when the review will begin. 

In February, it was revealed that there was a “poor uptake” of the scheme in its first year, with less than 10% of the redress scheme’s budget being spent. 

According to Funchion, the redress element of the scheme is an important one because so many people affected by generational trauma have been left unable to work.

“For the redress scheme to actually work and for it to be meaningful, we need more than the ‘tea and sympathy’ approach,” she said.

“We’re in April and there’s been no talk of when the review is actually going to happen. Just because the review has to commence by September doesn’t mean it can’t be started earlier.”

Funchion says that there are a lot of people affected by institutional abuse who are not eligible for the redress scheme, something that she would like to see changed when the review goes ahead.

“There are a lot of institutions which weren’t included in the redress scheme, which excludes many people from being eligible,” she said.

“People who stayed in a Mother and Baby Home for less than six months are deemed outside the redress. This rule should be scrapped as it flies in the face of everything that we know around trauma and its impacts.”

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The Sinn Féin MEP also said that she would like to see those who were “boarded out” included in the redress scheme. 

These were people who were sent to farms around the country as farm labourers, as well as sometimes to houses to help with domestic work, which she said was akin to “domestic slavery”. 

“Some of those stories are the most horrific stories that I’ve ever come across. These were children, basically at the age of seven or eight, working in the most appalling conditions, and who were being abused,” Funchion said.

“These people were never really given any special recognition and they were never given an additional payment for what they went through.” 

Funchion says that she would like the government to help the survivors achieve “proper justice”.

“I just cannot understand how you can sit down and listen to people and hear from women who have never been able to track down their adult children and vice versa,” she said. “Or how you can hear from children who have never been able to track down, whether it’s their mother or their father, and not do absolutely everything in your power to help them.”

In response to a request from The Journal, a spokesperson from the Department of Children, Disability and Equality said that “while the review has not yet commenced, initial preparatory work for it is already well underway.”

Under section 48 of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act, two reviews of the operation of the Scheme are provided for.

The first of these reviews must commence within six months of the second anniversary of its establishment, i.e after 20 March 2026 and before 20 September 2026.

“The review is largely operational in focus and will consider issues such as the level of uptake of the scheme, statistical analysis, the experience of applicants, the extent to which payments have been made and if the scheme is achieving its purpose,” the spokesperson said.

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