Letters to the Editor: Mother and baby restitution must include Church of Ireland

A scene at the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork. Mother and baby institution survivors are second class victims, writes one correspondent.

Minister Roderick O’Gorman has tasked Sheila Nunan with completing “negotiation with religious bodies, on his behalf, in relation to contributions to the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme”.

It remains a scandal that, over a year and half after the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Inquiry completed its report, no survivor has received a cent. The proposed scheme is restrictive, requiring six months residency, excluding time sent out [of the home but] under institutional control. A sensible pathway would have been to permit survivors to apply to a revived Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB) scheme. That has not been done for reasons of cost. Mother and baby institution survivors are second class victims.