Mother & Baby Scheme: Low Uptake Raises Concerns

Concerns are growing over the slow uptake of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Institutions redress scheme, with the Special Advocate for Survivors describing it as “exclusionary, poorly advertised, and re-traumatising.” Less than 10% of the allocated redress budget has been spent nearly two years after the scheme’s launch.

Mother and Baby Institutions Redress Scheme Faces Criticism

Patricia Carey, the Special Advocate for Survivors, has stated there is “an urgent need” for the government to ensure all eligible survivors receive their redress. Her comments followed the publication of the first annual report of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme by the Department of Children, dated June 2025, and relating to 2024 – the year the scheme began.

The scheme aims to provide financial payments and health support to individuals who spent time in Mother and Baby or County Home Institutions. Between March 2024 and December 2024, 5,997 applications were received, with 59% submitted via the online portal and 41% by post.

As of the report, 5,031 Notices of Determination had been issued, and 3,475 applicants had accepted offers and received payment. The majority of applicants were between the ages of 61-70, 71-80, and 51-60, accounting for 4,579 applications. Applicants aged 41-50 represented 8% of the total, while those aged 81-90 comprised 7%. Individuals 40 or under made up approximately 3% of applications, and those over 90 accounted for 1%.

The vast majority of applications, 4,685 or 83%, originated from within Ireland. 583 applications, representing 10%, came from the United Kingdom, with the remaining 6% from countries including Belgium, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden and Turkey.

The report indicated that “straight-forward cases” took an average of 62 days to reach a Notice of Determination. Thirty-two complaints were filed regarding the process, with 14 relating to delays in payment.

Total expenditure on the payment scheme from January 2024 to December 2024 was €62 million. Revised estimates discussed at the Oireachtas Children’s Committee suggest an underspend of over €68.5m in 2025.

Ms. Carey has called for the expansion of the redress scheme to include those currently excluded, including individuals who were “boarded out.” She has rejected the assertion that the scheme is achieving its goal of providing speedy, easy, and trauma-informed access to redress. While encouraging eligible individuals to apply, Ms. Carey acknowledged receiving numerous complaints from survivors regarding the scheme’s failures.

Concerns raised in her first annual report, published last summer, include ongoing operational issues, difficulties with records of time spent in institutions, inconsistent trauma-informed care, inadequate promotion and advertising, and the exclusion of certain individuals from redress, causing ongoing distress.

“Over the last 20 months my office has received daily calls and emails from Survivors unhappy with the scheme, many of whom have shared the negative impact that engagement with the scheme has had on their lives and are looking for support,” Ms. Carey stated. “It is incumbent on the Minister to address these myriad issues in order to ensure all survivors receive the redress they are entitled to.”