Mother and Baby Homes Redress

Mother and Baby Homes Redress

A state apology, redress and access to their birth information should be given to survivors of mother and baby homes, the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation has recommended this week. The commission’s long-awaited report has finally been published. There were some horrific findings including a confirmation that about 9,000 children died in the 18 homes under investigation over the period from 1922 to 1998. That accounted for about 15% of all the children who were in the institutions during this period. The inquiry had originally been set up to examine:

• The entry and exit arrangements at the homes;
• Living conditions;
• Post-mortems;
• Burials;
• Vaccine trials;
• Whether or not residents were treated differently on any grounds such as race disability and religion.

Redress

In terms of redress, the report notes that redress can be:

• financial or
• in the form of enhanced services.

The Commission considers that “services such as counselling and enhanced medical cards should be made available to those former residents who need them”. The report also goes on to say “The State does have an obligation not to discriminate between people in similar situations. Financial redress has been awarded in the past to a number of groups. If redress is being considered for former residents of mother and baby homes, the relevant comparable redress schemes are the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (RIRS) (for the children) and the Magdalen laundries scheme (for the mothers),”.

Government Action

The Government has a phased approach to its response which will run through 8 categories:

• A survivor-centred approach
• Apology
• Access to Personal Information
• Archiving and Databases
• Education and Research
• Memorialisation
• Restorative Recognition
• Dignified Burial

Why Tallans – Our Experience

Tallans Solicitors LLP has a longstanding history in assisting victims to get the right and proper redress they deserve. We have advised clients in securing redress from other statutory schemes such as:

• Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal
• Residential Institutions Redress Board
• Surgical Symphysiotomy Payment Scheme
• Lourdes Hospital Redress Board
• Clerical Abuse Claims

Tallans have a reputation for legal challenges against the State.

Sheila Cooney and Deirdre Moran acted for over 1,800 women taking legal action against the State for social welfare inequality. They were successful in securing compensation for all.

Deirdre Moran is a specialist practitioner in the area of adoption law and has recently been involved in high profile cases before the High Court and Supreme Court. Find out more about Deirdre’s experience on her recent blog post by clicking here.

Sheila, Deirdre and the team successfully secured the overturning of a conviction and secured a certificate of miscarriage of justice and compensation. For more information click here.