Home / Crime and Justice / NI Mother-Baby Homes: Inquiry and Redress Scheme Launched
NI Mother-Baby Homes: Inquiry and Redress Scheme Launched
1 Jul
Summary
- Northern Ireland Assembly approves inquiry and financial redress for mother-baby institutions.
- Survivors recall harsh conditions, forced labor, and emotional distress in institutions.
- A £12,000 payment is offered to survivors, with £2,000 for deceased family members.
The Northern Ireland Assembly has legislated for a public inquiry and a financial redress scheme concerning mother-and-baby institutions. These secretive establishments, primarily run by religious orders, operated for approximately seventy years, housing unmarried women and girls. Survivors recount deeply scarring experiences, including grueling work from early morning to night, even during pregnancy, and a lack of emotional support.
Survivors like Caroline Hearn, who was at Thorndale House in the 1970s, described being treated poorly and sent to work shortly after giving birth. Colette Breen recalled her time at Marianville in Belfast, likening it to a prison with strict rules and limited contact with the outside world. The legislation aims to provide acknowledgment and redress for the suffering endured.
The established redress scheme will provide a standard payment of £12,000 to any mother or child who spent time in these institutions. Family members of deceased mothers and children, whose deaths occurred since 28 April 1953, are eligible for £2,000. The devolved government estimates around 10,000 applications, totaling £90 million.
A public inquiry, expected to last three years and cost approximately £14 million, will further investigate the issues. This inquiry follows research indicating over ten thousand women and girls passed through these institutions, some as a result of sexual crimes. Officials have described the institutions as "built on the foundations of systemic misogyny."
