Compensation plea over woman scarred in hostel accident

A woman who has maintained a vigil outside the Dáil for the past three months should be considered for compensation in the light of new information, it was claimed today.

Marie Therese O’Loughlin was scarred on her arms and face when, as an 18-month-old baby, she fell into an open fire at the Morning Star Mother and Baby Home in Dublin.

She has sought to have her case considered by the Residential Institutions Redress Board, but Education Minister Mary Hanafin has said the Morning Star is not recognised as an institution under the act and that there is no record of the state inspecting it.

But Labour Party Education spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan said she had obtained a letter from Health Minister Mary Harney, which revealed that her department had provided funding for the Regina Coeli homeless hostel (which included the Morning Star) in the 1930s and had inspected it since the 1940s.

“The whole basis on which the Department of Education refused to include the Morning Star mother and baby Home was that the state had no regulatory or inspection function in relation to it. This is now clearly contradicted by the Tánaiste's letter,” said Ms O’Sullivan.

The state provided the buildings for the Regina Coeli and Morning Star hostels when they were set up by the Legion of Mary in 1930. They are still located on Morning Star Avenue, off North Brunswick Street, with the Morning Star catering for homeless men and the Regina Coeli for homeless women and children.

Ms O’Sullivan called for Ms O’Loughlin’s case to be made eligible for consideration by the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

She said that even though the deadline for applications had closed last month, it could be extended by a ministerial order from Ms Hanafin.

“Marie Therese O’Loughlin has shown great courage and determination in maintaining her vigil outside Leinster House through the depths of winter in her search for justice.”

The Residential Institutions Redress Board was set up in 2002 to compensate the victims of abuse in the industrial school system. There were 128 institutions listed as qualifying under the legislation but 13 more were added in November 2004 year and a further three were added last July.

The Department of Education said that the Morning Star mother and baby home did not qualify as an institution under Section Four of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002.

The section states: The minister may by order provide for the insertion in the schedule of any industrial school, reformatory school, orphanage, children’s home… in which children were placed and resident in respect of which a public body has a regulatory or inspection function.”

Ms Hanafin said in the Dáil last month that the majority of homes like the Morning Star and Regina Coeli were privately operated and not subject to state inspection or regulation. She said a person who stayed at the hostel did so on a voluntary basis and usually paid a small fee for the accommodation.