Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 April 2026
709. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when the Government will introduce a financial redress scheme for children boarded out via all institutional settings. [28581/26]
View answerThe Government apology to survivors of institutional abuse, delivered by the Taoiseach in the Dáil on 25th February, acknowledged the suffering experienced by those who were abused while boarded out.
The intention of the boarded-out system was to provide family homes for children who would otherwise be in an institution. It is important to note that some did find loving homes and went on to live full and happy lives. However, others suffered terrible abuse and have felt the impact of that abuse right throughout their lives. Those life-long impacts are acknowledged in the Apology.
Redress can take different forms. In the Apology, Government has committed to redress, via the provision of a range of supports and services for certain survivors of industrial and reformatory schools. The Department of Education is co-ordinating the delivery of these cross-government supports and services.
The Department of Children, Disability and Equality oversees the delivery of the Government Action Plan for Survivors of Mother and Baby Institutions. This Action Plan provides support and acknowledgement to those who were boarded out as children in the following ways:
• access to birth and early life information,
• counselling services,
• the services of the Special Advocate, and
• the ongoing development of a National Centre for Research and Remembrance which will stand as a national site of conscience and honour equally those who spent time and suffered in institutions or had experience of the historical systems of boarding out or adoption.
In addition, the Action Plan also includes the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme which provides payments and medical benefits to eligible survivors based on time spent in an institution rather than evidence of abuse. Some individuals who were boarded out from these institutions as children may be eligible for the Scheme.
Any additional redress measures relating to those who were boarded out from all manner of institutional settings would be a matter for wider Government.
