Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 March 2026
729. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when St. Joseph’s Baby Home in Stamullen, County Meath and Temple Hill Hospital in Blackrock, County Dublin will be added to Schedule 1 of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023; and if she will consider expanding the scheme to cover all who spent time in mother and baby institutions. [16365/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI note the judgement by Mr. Justice Owens of the High Court on 16th February in respect of two Judicial Review applications concerning Temple Hill, Blackrock and St. Joseph's Stamullen, and am carefully considering its implications.
The judgement does not direct the inclusion of any institution in the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme, rather it provides some guidance in interpreting the assessment criteria for the addition of institutions into the Scheme.
The Payment Scheme currently provides payments and health benefits to people who spent time in any of the Mother and Baby or County Home Institutions that were identified by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation as having a main function of providing sheltered and supervised ante and post-natal facilities to single mothers and their children. The institutions covered by the Payment Scheme are set out in Schedule 1 to the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023.
The Government recognises that there are people who suffered stigma, trauma and abuse in other institutions. If it were to come to light that an institution, in which the State had a regulatory or inspection function, fulfilled a similar function with regard to single women and their children as those included in the Payment Scheme, section 49 of the Act provides that the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, may insert an additional institution into the Schedule.
It should be noted that the Payment Scheme is just one of a large suite of actions being undertaken to respond to the legacy of these institutions under the Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. Of the seven major commitments set out in the Action Plan, six are now delivered and in place, while the seventh is well underway. Key actions include access to birth information, the services of the Special Advocate and counselling support, all already in place, as well as the ongoing development of a National Centre for Research and Remembrance.
