“To separate a mother and her child is a life long trauma for both parties”

The government has made a “dog's dinner” out of its redress scheme for survivors of mother and baby homes, such as St Peter's in Castlepollard in Westmeath.

That's according to Paul Redmond, chairman of the Coalition of Mother and Baby Homes Survivors (CMABS), who was born in Castlepollard in 1964.

An estimated 34,000 people will qualify for a payment under scheme, while 19,000 will also qualify for an enhanced medical card.

All mothers who spent time in a home will be eligible for a payment. A minimum payment of €5,000 will be made to mothers who spent three months or less at an institution and rises based on the length of stay, with a maximum payment of €65,000 for those who spent ten years or more. Mothers who engaged in work during their stays will also be eligible for a separate payment, starting at €1,500 for those who worked for between three and six months and going up to a maximum payment of €60,000.

Children who spent six months or more in a mother and baby are eligible for a payment under the redress scheme. The payments range from €12,500 for those who spent between six months and a year up to €65,000 for those who spent ten years or more.

Children who spent less than six months resident will not be eligible for a payment, a decision which has been criticised by survivor groups.

Speaking on RTE radio, CMABS chairperson Mr Redmond said that the decision will “split our community in two”.

“There will be those who qualify for payments and those who qualify for nothing, those who may have been illegally adopted, for example.

“This is going to cause chaos in our community and a lot of bad feeling and bitterness. You can't just cut tens of thousands of people out.

“...It is splitting the community because any adoptee who was in for less than six months is excluded. We have made the point to the government and to minister after minister, over and over again, that to separate a mother and her child is a life long trauma for both parties that stays with you for the rest of your life and that has not been acknowledged by the government. They just seem to have dismissed that completely.”

None of the religious orders that ran the mother and baby homes have yet made a financial contribution to the scheme. Mr Redmond says that the government should have requested contributions from the orders when the report from the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation was published in January.

With a total estimated cost of around €800m, the redress scheme is the largest of its type in the history of the state.

Announcing the details of the scheme last Tuesday, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman says that the scheme "encompasses but also extends well beyond the recommendations of the Commission of Investigation".

"It represents a significant milestone in the State’s acknowledgment of its past failures and of the needless suffering experienced by so many of its citizens. “I want to thank the survivors and their families who participated in the consultation process for the Scheme, both in Ireland and abroad. The depth of feeling shone through and is reflected in the proposals published today.