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BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA bill to establish a redress scheme for victims of mother and baby homes has been criticised by a survivor who says it excludes “thousands” of women and children who suffered.<\/p>\n Mark McCollum was one of thousands of children born to unmarried mothers in Northern Ireland who were sent to institutions. <\/p>\n More than 10,000 pregnant women and girls passed through the secretive institutions, which were largely run by religious orders, from the 1920s until the 1990s.<\/p>\n A bill to establish an inquiry into mother and baby homes, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses – and an associated redress scheme – passed its first stage in the Stormont Assembly on Monday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mark McCollum was born in Marianvale and then taken across the border to an orphanage in County Donegal.<\/p>\n He said survivors were “astonished yesterday at the omissions” in the bill.<\/p>\n “There’s an arbitrary date for exclusion of… 29 September 2011, so anybody that died prior to that are not going to be included in the process,” he said.<\/p>\n “That excludes thousands of potential women and girls and their adoptive children who passed away.<\/p>\n “What is the justification for that other than saving money,” he said, adding: “There’s no rationale for this.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr McCollum said before seeing the bill, there was “a sense of optimism” but that is no longer the case.<\/p>\n He added that mothers and adoptees have “been silenced and stigmatised for so long” and it feel likes they’ve “been excluded again”.<\/p>\n He also said the bill “undermines its potential to deliver truth, acknowledgment and justice for the survivors”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Marie Arbuckle grew up in Northern Ireland, but was sent to an institution in Dublin when she was 17.<\/p>\n She called the proposals “a kick in the teeth for many survivors”.<\/p>\n “It seems to me that the government hasn’t listened to us properly at all,” she said.<\/p>\n She added: “Why do a consultation in the first place if the wishes and hopes of survivors aren’t taken on board?”<\/p>\n Ms Arbuckle thinks the “drive to save money has simply gone too far and all at the expense of the wishes of victims.” <\/p>\n “We have lost all confidence in the process we worked so hard on for the last three years.”<\/p>\n KRW Law, who act on behalf of many victims and survivors of institutions and laundries, said there is “huge disquiet over the prospective exclusion of many survivors”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Executive Bill will establish a statutory public inquiry and a statutory redress scheme.<\/p>\n It comes after a consultation on proposals to establish an inquiry into mother-and-baby homes was launched last year.<\/p>\n The estimated cost is \u00a380m, which includes almost \u00a360m in initial redress payments to cover approximately 6,600 redress claims.<\/p>\n Each eligible person will receive a payment of \u00a310,000<\/a> and a \u00a32,000 payment will be made to each eligible family member on behalf of a loved one who has died since 29 September 2011.<\/p>\n A further Individually Assessed Payment (IAP) for the specific harm suffered by an individual will follow the public inquiry.<\/p>\n The executive office said a process was already underway to appoint a designate chair of the inquiry. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n First Minister Michelle O’Neill said: “These institutions and practices were a product of systemic misogyny. The regime inflicted on women and girls, many while heavily pregnant, was appalling and constituted cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” <\/p>\n She added that not only did women have their rights “grossly denied within these institutions, so too did their children, now adults. They too were failed on every level.”<\/p>\n O’Neill said that the legislation hopefully demonstrates a “sincere commitment” to those who “have suffered and been silenced”. <\/p>\n She thanked those who campaigned for justice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said: “We deeply regret the pain and suffering of victims and survivors and today is a testament to their courage as we introduce this important and significant legislation.”<\/p>\n She added that victims have long waited for answers and that they will “seek to uncover the truth and hold those responsible to account”.<\/p>\n “We remain committed to addressing this dark period of our past and we want to encourage everyone affected to come forward and be heard,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There was once a network of institutions across the island of Ireland which housed unmarried women and their babies at a time when pregnancy outside marriage was viewed as scandalous.<\/p>\n There were more than a dozen such mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n Three of them were Catholic-run workhouses known as Magdalene Laundries, where women frequently had to do exhausting, unpaid labour.<\/p>\n Researchers found that a third of those admitted were under the age of 19, with the youngest child to be admitted aged 12.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A number were the victims of sexual crime, including rape and incest, and “strenuous physical labour” was expected of residents late into their pregnancies.<\/p>\n Many women and girls were separated from their children by placing them in children’s homes, boarding them out (fostering) or through adoption.<\/p>\n There was also the issue of the cross-border movement of women and children in and out of the institutions.<\/p>\n The last institution in Northern Ireland closed in 1990.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the Republic of Ireland the Institutions Payment Scheme, \u20ac800m (\u00a3683m), the redress scheme established by the Irish government, opened for applications in 2024.<\/p>\n It aims to acknowledge the circumstances experienced in mother-and-baby or County Home Institutions in Ireland.<\/p>\n More than 30,000 people are believed to be eligible for the scheme but to date only about 6000 have applied.<\/a><\/p>\n The proposed scheme in Northern Ireland is still at an early stage. <\/p>\n Legislation, which will establish an inquiry into Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses, and a redress scheme was introduced on Monday<\/a> and will follow the legislative process. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘No rationale’ <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘A kick in the teeth’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat is in the bill?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Institutions were ‘product of systemic misogyny’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat were mother and baby homes?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat redress schemes for victims of mother and baby homes are there? <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n