'They are people who were wronged': Survivors challenge exclusion from redress scheme

Marie Thornton and John Duncan Morris, who are not known to each other, told the 'Irish Examiner' that it was it was a 'disgrace' that the minister for children was defending the action.

The High Court has been told that the minister for children, Norma Foley, is not entitled to refer to anecdotal material received in the course of an inquiry when it comes to refusing to add other institutions to the mother and baby institutions payment scheme.

The comments were made during a judicial review taken by two survivors of religious-run institutions, both of whom have been denied a payment.

The €800m redress scheme, which was rolled out last year, is available for survivors who were resident in 14 of the mother and baby homes examined by the Commission of Inquiry and all county homes.

Survivors outside of these institutions, as well as those who were in an institution for less than six months, are excluded from the scheme.

Opening the case in a sitting of the High Court in Dundalk, Mark Harty SC, instructed by Coleman Legal for the plaintiffs, said his clients' “cases are the same in terms of their issues, in that both of them were born to unmarried mothers, were placed in institutions from birth, effectively, but by reason of the manner in which the scheme has been set up under the act in terms of redress, the institutions which they attended are not listed under the scheme”.

John Duncan Morris was not in Bessborough long enough to be eligible for a payment.

John Duncan Morris, aged 58, was born in the Cork run Bessborough mother and baby home in 1967, where he remained for around 90 days, before spending the next five years at St Joseph’s in Stamullen, Louth.

St Joseph's is not included in the scheme and Mr Duncan Morris was not in Bessborough long enough to be eligible for a payment.

Marie Thornton, aged 71, from Dublin, was born in a private maternity home. At one week old, she was placed in Temple Hill in 1954. An adoption order was not signed until four years later.

Ms Thornton and Mr Duncan Morris who are not known to each other, told the Irish Examiner that it was it was a “disgrace” that the minister for children was defending the action.

Mr Duncan Morris’s sister Sarah, who only met him four years ago, said “they are people who were wronged, this is such an important case.” 

Around 68,000 people went through the country’s institutions for unmarried mothers, but only 34,000 are eligible for a payment because of the exclusions.

Mr Duncan Morris and Ms Thornton are two of around 1,400 clients working with the firm Coleman Legal LLP over their exclusion.

Marie Thornton, at one week old, was placed in Temple Hill in 1954.

The case is centred on Section 49 of the institution’s redress scheme.

It states: “The minister, with the consent of the minister for public expenditure, may by regulation provide for the insertion in column two of part one, or column two of part two, of schedule of any institutions which was established for the purpose of providing pregnant-related and infant care services and the placement of children for the purposes of adoption or care arrangements, and in respect of which a public body had a regulatory or inspection function”.

The counsel for the State, Eileen Barrington SC, told presiding judge Justice Alexander Owens that institutions that housed survivors must meet the criteria of “providing pregnant-related and infant care services and the placement of children for the purposes of adoption or care arrangements”, adding that St Joseph's and Temple Hill were “for infant care only”.

The word “and” in Section 49.1 featured heavily in the two-day hearing that concluded on Tuesday.

John Gordan SC, for the plaintiffs, argued that the commission only sampled 14 mother and baby homes but allowed all county homes into the scheme, despite only sampling four, and that the minister “is not entitled to refer to anecdotal material received in the course of an inquiry” when St Joseph's and Temple Hill were not examined.

The latest figures from the Department of Children show that 6,600 people have applied for the redress scheme — which represents €66m of the €800m, or around 8%, of the overall budget. No institutions have been added to the scheme since it was set up in 2023.

Judge Owens is reserving his judgement.