Mother and baby homes redress scheme extended

The Democratic Unionist Party’s (DUP) junior minister in the Executive Office, Joanne Bunting, said the change would increase costs by an estimated £22m in redress payments and a further £8m for support services and information retrieval.

The bill which is going through the Assembly will establish an inquiry into mother-and-baby homes, Magdalene Laundries and workhouses, and an associated redress scheme.

More than 10,000 pregnant women and girls passed through the institutions which were largely run by religious orders from 1920s until the 1990s.

Marie Arbuckle was also at Stormont for the debate, at the part of the legislative process known as the further consideration stage.

She grew up in Northern Ireland, but was sent to a mother-and-baby institution in Dublin when she was 17.

She said she was disappointed that the Assembly did not pass amendments proposed by the People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll to extend the redress scheme to mothers and children who were in workhouses.

“A group of survivors has been left out, and these are the oldest survivors we have,” she said.

“One of them died giving testimony.

“I don’t understand why survivors have to fight.”

The legislation will be debated in the Assembly one more time, in its final stage.