Only two religious bodies offer contributions to mother and baby redress scheme

Only two of eight religious bodies linked to mother and baby homes in Ireland have offered to contribute to a survivor redress scheme, a report has found.

The Sisters of Bon Secours offered 12.97 million euro (about £11 million) – a sum deemed as meaningful and accepted by the Irish Government.

The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul has proposed contributing a building to the scheme. That offer is to be considered by the Government.

A third religious body – the Sisters of St John of God – declined to contribute to the scheme but offered a conditional donation of 75,000 euro (£64,000) to be used for a charitable purpose associated with mother and baby home survivors.

The remaining five bodies – the Congregation of Lady of the Good Shepherd; the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary; the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy; the Legion of Mary; and the Church of Ireland – made no offer.

The details were contained in a report compiled by Sheila Nunan, the independent negotiator appointed by the Government to engage with the organisations over financial redress.

The negotiation was part of a bid to secure contributions from religious bodies towards the cost of the Government-established Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme.

The scheme will cost more than 800 million euro (£680 million) and the Government had been seeking around 270 million (£231 million) in total from the religious bodies.

A commission of investigation was set up in 2015 to examine homes run by the state and religious organisations where tens of thousands of unmarried Irish women were sent to have their babies.

The commission found that almost 170,000 women and children passed through the institutions from 1922 until the last one closed in 1998.

The investigation exposed the often harsh conditions and unforgiving regimes many women and children experienced in the institutions.

Minister for Children Norma Foley expressed disappointment at the approach adopted by the majority of religious bodies to the redress scheme.

I would encourage other religious bodies to reflect further on their willingness to make a meaningful contribution

“The commission (of investigation) made significant findings in relation to the failings of the state and religious organisations who together ran mother and baby and county home institutions,” said Ms Foley.

“I know that people across Irish society, both religious and lay, have been distressed and appalled by the harsh conditions that women who became pregnant outside of marriage endured in these institutions.

“They had to face unfair, unwarranted and unbearable shame and stigma both inside the walls of the mother and baby homes and outside the walls from both state and society.”

She added: “The state has accepted its own responsibility for what happened to women and their children in mother and baby homes by firstly apologising and also setting up a payment scheme.

“A process was put in place to seek a financial contribution towards the cost of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme from religious bodies associated with mother and baby and county home institutions.

“While acknowledging the financial contribution by the Sisters of Bon Secours, I believe that much more could have been done by the other religious bodies concerned.

“I would encourage other religious bodies to reflect further on their willingness to make a meaningful contribution to the payment scheme and note that my department is available to engage with them on this matter at any stage.”

The department had been seeking a total combined contribution of 267.52 million euro (£229 million) from the eight organisations.

Asked about compelling the religious orders to make further contributions, the minister said the Attorney General has been tasked with looking at “what avenues are open” to the Government going forward.

She said: “That is a step that may well be taken.”

The report states that the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul (DCSVP), which offered the making, was reluctant to make a financial contribution as it had provided 19 million euro (£16.2 million) to the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme in respect of the St Patrick’s/Pelletstown institution.

It said the order was made up of employees and not trustees, that the Home was owned by the State, and that it needed to be in a position to fund its ongoing work.

The Sisters of St John of God said there was no basis – “legal or moral” – to demand it participate in the scheme as there was “no evidence that our sisters there acted in any untoward manner”. It said the donation was made on the basis that it was not presented as a contribution or as part of a “moral or ethical obligation” towards those survivors.

The Congregation of Lady of the Good Shepherd said it would not be making a contribution as it could not afford to and they did not believe they had an ethical or moral reason to do so, further stating that the report into the Dunboyne institution showed residents were well cared for.

The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary highlighted financial constraints, its responsibilities to its elderly members and duties oversees, and that it had provided roughly 25 million euro (£21.3 million) in unpaid work to the homes through its sisters.

The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy said county homes were public bodies that were never owned or governed by the CSM.

The Legion of Mary objected to its inclusion, arguing that the Regina Coeli Hostel was not a mother-and-baby home and was instead a homeless hostel operating outside of the system in recognition of failures of Irish society, the State and Irish families.

The Church of Ireland said it did not have institutional responsibility for the institutions mentioned in the report, and was neither the owner nor the operator of the homes. It further said it was unclear it had any legal or moral responsibility to make a contribution.