Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2026
630. Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if consideration will be given to the inclusion of an institution (details supplied) in the baby institutions payment scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47531/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme 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 the underpinning legislation for the Scheme.
Chapter 2 of the Social History section of the Commission of Investigation report - www.gov.ie/en/publication/89e43-chapter-2-institutions/ - details the different types of institutions that existed and whether they could be considered Mother and Baby Institutions. Temple Hill, Blackrock is referred to as being “frequently wrongly described as a mother and baby home. It was an infants’ nursery and mothers were not resident there. As a hospital, it received funding from the Hospitals Commission.” Temple Hill did not provide ante and post-natal facilities, and therefore it is not included in the Scheme.
There are currently legal proceedings - under appeal based on the advice of the Attorney General - that seek the inclusion of Temple Hill into the Scheme. Until those proceedings are concluded I cannot comment any further.
