Support for redress scheme welcomed
Tipperary Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne has welcomed the support given at Sinn Féin’s 2023 Ard Fheis to a motion tabled Sean Treacy Cumann Roscrea to include those who spent less than six months in a mother and baby home in the redress scheme.
Teachta Browne said: “The exclusion from the redress scheme of people who had spent less than six months in a mother and baby home was just one more example in a litany of actions that have shown disrespect towards survivors of these institutions.
“We saw it with how witness reports and survivors’ accounts of mother and baby homes were not taken seriously in the commission’s report.
“And unfortunately, we saw it again with the exclusion from the redress scheme of those who spent less than 6 months in one of these homes.
“The report by the Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth recommended that the six-month residency requirement be removed, and in its report, quoted the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission who stated their view that the requirement had “no rational connection to the violations suffered by survivors in the Irish context”.
“Furthermore, the report notes that the department could not offer any information about having taken on any expert opinions when formulating the six-month requirement.
“The people who have been seeking justice, redress and answers for their entire lives have been let down by the system that had such a profound impact on their lives, the delays in getting the commission up and running, the dismissal of the veracity of survivors’ accounts, the backing that government parties gave to sealing records; and now this policy of exclusion that creates a situation in which all survivors appear not to be equal before the law.
“We all know there are many more shortcomings in the treatment of those who went through mother and baby homes like Sean Ross in Roscrea.
“This is why the Sean Treacy Cumann Roscrea submitted a motion to commit Sinn Féin in government to expanding the redress scheme to include all survivors.
“I made the case to party delegates and as I expected, it received overwhelming support.
“It is time for the disrespect that has traditionally been shown to survivors of mother and baby homes to end, and Sinn Fein have sent the message that we will lead the way,” said Deputy Browne.