Mother and Baby Homes
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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Norma Foley (FF), Kerry

The mother and baby institutions payment scheme opened for applications in March 2024. Over its full lifetime, the scheme had been tentatively estimated to benefit up to a maximum of 34,000 people who spent time in mother and baby and county home institutions. The scheme is open for five years, so there is ample time for survivors to apply. It is very important that they are aware of that. I believe they have until March 2029 to apply. It is difficult to predict at what stage across its five-year lifetime applications may materialise, although we do know that in some previous redress schemes, significant numbers of applications were made towards their end or closing dates. As of 12 April 2026, over 7,100 applications had been received, over 6,500 notices of determination had issued to applicants and almost 5,300 payments had been made, totalling over €78 million. Over 2,800 applicants have also qualified for health benefits.
All information on the scheme, including how to apply, can be found at the dedicated payment scheme website, which includes a booklet, questions and answers and short how-to videos on the application process. A helpline is also in existence. For clarity, I will give the helpline number, which is 00353 1 522 9992. Overall, we have received positive feedback that applicants are finding the application process straightforward and that the information, helpline and so forth are helpful.
The Department will continue to do all it can to promote and raise awareness of the scheme via a significant public awareness campaign. This is operating on a phased basis in Ireland and in jurisdictions overseas that have a significant Irish diaspora. The first phases across 2024 and 2025 included a mix of press releases, poster placement in public facilities such as libraries, social posts, leaflet distribution, webinars, meetings with representative bodies in Ireland and Britain and paid advertising campaigns. To date, some €1.8 million has been spent on raising awareness of the scheme across the world.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23