Today, the Government wants to pass through the Dáil legislation establishing the mother and baby homes redress scheme, this despite the fact the scheme shamefully excludes children who spent less than six months in a mother and baby institution or a county home. As a consequence, 24,000 survivors will be left behind by the Government’s proposed scheme.

It is scandalous that this exclusionary, discriminatory provision remains in the legislation. The scheme creates a hierarchy of victims by taking the view that some mothers and their children suffered less than others. The very idea that a child who spent less than six months in a home suffered no damage or injury and is not entitled to redress is just unacceptable. The Government is saying that these children did not spend long enough in a home to suffer trauma from being forcibly separated from their mother. That is wrong. For a child taken from their mother against her will, the trauma was and is the act of separation itself - a trauma that lasts a lifetime.

This happened on the watch of the State and there must be redress for that injustice. The proposed scheme is a botched scheme. It does not meet the needs of survivors in an equal and fair way. It is not just Sinn Féin saying this; concerns have been raised by the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, by the UN Special Rapporteur and by the UN Human Rights Committee.

No matter how long a child spent in one of these places and no matter what age they were when they left, they suffered greatly and their trauma is real. No arbitrary six-month line drawn by the Government changes this reality. Is mór an náire é scéim an Rialtais. Is iomaí duine a tháinig slán ó na hárais mháithreacha agus naíonán atá fágtha amach ón gcúiteamh. Ní mór an scéim a athrú ionas go mbeidh gach marthanóir san áireamh. Is é seo an rud ceart a dhéanamh. The survivors of mother and baby homes have shown remarkable resilience and dignity in the face of great adversity. If it was not for their courage and bravery, there would have been no commission of investigation, no State apology and no redress scheme whatsoever to speak of. The scheme that comes before the House today is an insult to those survivors and the hard road they have walked. They have walked that road together. They have not separated or divided. They have not left anybody behind, and they will not allow the Government to do so now.

This week we heard from many survivors on the radio. We heard from Jean and Eamon. They both spent less than six months in a home and they say this scheme makes them feel irrelevant. More importantly, it suggests that their separation from their mother did not matter. That is the human impact of this legislation. The Opposition has engaged in good faith in order to try to get the changes needed for a redress scheme that is just, but the Minister is not listening. Somebody needs to listen now and that somebody must be the Taoiseach. I ask him, as Head of Government, to intervene and drop this discriminatory six-month rule. I ask him to bring forward a scheme that truly meets the needs of survivors in a fair and equal way. These women and their families have had to fight the State every step of the way; they should not have to fight any longer.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The mother and baby institutions payments scheme is currently being debated by the Oireachtas. The scheme will include financial payments to an estimated 34,000 people and a form of enhanced medical card for almost 20,000 who were resident in mother and baby and county home institutions. This will come at a cost of approximately €800 million to the taxpayer. It is one of the biggest schemes of its type as we seek to put right some of the wrongs of the past.

While no measure could possibly hope to make up for the trauma and wrongs committed in institutional settings in the 20th century, the Government has engaged and responded in a meaningful way. We have brought forward redress in several different forms - and it is not just about money - one of which is the proposed payments scheme, which is the largest scheme ever brought forward by the State in the context of the number of intended recipients. Report Stage of the Bill was taken in the Dáil on 1 February Bill, and proceedings thereon were adjourned until today. The Bill will be presented in the Seanad shortly after it has been passed by the Dáil. The scheme will open as soon as possible in 2023, once the legislation is passed by the Oireachtas and the administrative framework is in place. We want no further delays in that regard. In parallel with the legislative process, intensive work is under way on the development of the structures we need to put in place to administer the payments scheme. These structures will include an independent executive office located in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

We recognise the fact that many women face significant barriers, including the lack of financial and family support that left them with no choice in this matter. They were abandoned by the fathers of their children, as was noted in the report of the commission of investigation. Shame, stigma and ostracism all contributed profoundly to a hostile environment in which to be a single mother outside marriage. The implication that, in all cases, adoption equated to forced family separation can create a harmful and hurtful narrative for adoptive parents and their children, whether those children were adopted from a mother and baby institution or another setting. We need to be sensitive to that too.

The Government's view is we want a payments system that is non-adversarial, does not involve any investigative element and does not have to rely on incomplete or non-existent documentary evidence. Instead, a generalised payment without the need for assessment has been brought forward for every surviving woman who spent any time at all in any of the institutions. For children who spent less than six months in an institution and who were adopted or otherwise separated from their birth families, the overwhelming priority need that has been expressed through the extensive engagement with those concerned is access to records and information about their identities. For those children who spent short periods in institutions during their infancy, the action plan provides a response to their needs. This will primarily happen through the Birth Information and Tracing Act and the investment that has been made to support the implementation of this legislation. The new information and tracing service under the Act opened to applications last October. It provides, for the first time, access to birth certificates and also wider birth and early life information for those who have questions about their origins.

Shame on you.

I am sure that the Taoiseach is aware of the Government's survivor consultation, which was extensive, reported there were numerous and many harms and human rights violations identified in respect of which reparation is needed. However, the consultation recorded the primary harm was the loss of the mother-child bond and the relationship. The primary damage was done by separation, yet, in an arbitrary way, the Government has decided those who were separated from their mother, if they happened to be in an institution for less than six months, are not to be covered by this redress scheme. I put it to the Taoiseach that this is actually cruel. The Government does not have to do this. If I were sitting where the Taoiseach is, I certainly would not do this for the very simple reason that it is wrong. God knows over the years we have heard testimony and heartbreak aplenty from families who were devastated by this experience. I again ask the Taoiseach to intervene in respect of this matter and to drop this arbitrary and cruel rule.

It is not fair to characterise the decision of Government in respect of this matter as arbitrary. We had a commission of investigation. It made its findings and recommended a set of actions and a redress scheme. We decided to go well beyond what was recommended by the independent commission, which was chaired by an independent judge. The commission looked at the matter for many years before coming to its findings and we went further than it recommended-----

What about the six months?

-----so it is not fair to say it is arbitrary in that regard.

It is arbitrary.

It is also unfair to characterise the response of the Government as being solely linked to financial compensation. There is much more to what we are doing than that. For example, one of the things we have done is put in place immediate counselling support. That was available on the publication of the commission's final report through the HSE's national counselling service. A State apology was also made by the former Taoiseach, now the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, in January 2021. That was significant too.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the main requests and demands from people who were born in mother and baby institutions was that we change our laws so they can have access to their birth certificates-----

And none of that justifies excluding them from redress.

-----and access to information about their early lives.

The Taoiseach, without interruption.

That was done in the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022.

Wow.

Almost 7,000 requests have been received and 2,000 cases have been completed. We are pulling out all the stops to ensure we get that information to people affected as soon as possible. There is the national central repository of records, a national centre of research and remembrance and research scholarships. We are trying to get public access-----

And none of that justifies excluding people from redress.

-----to State files. I could go on if I was not being interrupted.

It is heartless, it is cruel and it is disgraceful.

Please. I call the leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Bacik.