IRELAND
Irish Times
Fiach Kelly
Extending the institutional child abuse redress scheme to those who lived in mother and baby homes as unaccompanied children could cost as much as €1 billion, the Cabinet has been told.
The Government has decided that it is “not possible” to implement such a recommendation from the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.
The proposal was contained in the commission’s second interim report, which was published yesterday despite having been submitted last autumn. Its central recommendation of reopening the previous scheme caused alarm in the Government and delayed its publication for months.
The Cabinet finally decided against extending the original 2002 scheme, which cost €1.5 billion up to 2015 because of cost and legal implications. The initial estimated cost of the 2002 scheme was €250 million.
Religious orders
However, the prospect of future redress for those who spent time in mother and baby homes was not entirely discounted, and the Government will ask religious orders to carry some of the cost in future.
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