LAST UPDATE | 26 Aug
A 91-YEAR-OLD man has been offered financial compensation from the Mother and Baby Institution redress scheme after months of delays.
The great-grandfather, who spent several years in St Finbarr’s county home in Cork as a child, first applied for redress in March, shortly after the long-awaited scheme opened.
However, five months on, he had not been offered any payment despite the fact his family had provided all the information they were asked for.
Earlier today The Journal published an interview with his granddaughter Jenny*, who applied for redress on his behalf.
In the hours after the article was published, the man was offered a payment.
Today is his 91st birthday. He is currently in hospital, but expects to be back home in the coming days.
Jenny believes the article helped speed up the process. She is hopeful her grandfather will now receive the payment as quickly as possible.
In an interview carried out on Friday and published this morning, she said she was “very frustrated” by the delay.
Her grandfather has some physical ailments, she said, but he is mentally very well and understands what is happening.
He’s feeling very let down. He was feeling let down by the system, as it is, being there until he was eight.
Jenny had been in touch with officials in charge of the redress scheme a number of times via the online portal and over the phone. She said she has provided all the information they asked for, so didn’t understand the delay up to this point.
After not hearing anything for several weeks, she contacted the department again last week. In the reply, seen by The Journal, she was told she will be contacted with an update “in due course”.
The man in question was boarded out to a family at the age of eight, but it was not a good experience, Jenny said.
“It wasn’t a happy, loving family by any means,” she noted, adding that he was used as a labourer.
She said the foster father chose her grandfather out of a line of boys because “he had the biggest hands”.
Claire Kerrane, Sinn Féin’s spokesperson for children, has called on Minister Roderic O’Gorman to “urgently address” the delays faced by families like Jenny’s.
“Families understood that older applicants would be prioritised, yet this does not appear to be the case,” Kerrane said.
There is also a genuine worry that more and more survivors will pass away without their application being finalised.
A spokesperson for the Department of Children said applications to the scheme “are prioritised based on age and health grounds, however this prioritisation can be impacted when an application has to be placed on hold or there is a delay”.
“The main reasons why an older person or any person might experience delays in the processing of their application are generally because of an issue in providing the necessary proofs or because the institutional records search process in their case is complex.”
The spokesperson said the Payment Scheme Office “acknowledges and understands that the time conducting administrative processing of applications can cause concern and worry” .
They added that the office “works to process applications promptly, while ensuring all necessary checks are carried out”.
“This includes supporting applicants directly with their application where more information is needed to finish an application.
“The timeline between the receipt of application and the making of an award for each case can vary depending on the circumstances, but every effort is made to ensure that applicants receive their award as fast as is practically possible.”
As of 19 August, approximately 4,900 applications to the scheme have been received. Of this, almost 4,100 applications are deemed “completed” and are “progressing or determined”, the spokesperson said.
Some of the incomplete applications are missing outstanding information such as photo ID, they added. A decision has been made in more than 2,000 applications, including offers of payment in over 80% of these cases.
To date, more than 1,000 offers have been accepted and some 900 applicants have received their payment. The average payment received by people to date is around €15,000.
Once a person is offered a payment, they have six months to decide whether or not to accept it.
Approximately half of applicants have also been deemed eligible for health supports such as the Enhanced Medical Card or a once-off Health Support Payment of €3,000 if living abroad.
The majority of applications (60%) made to date have involved people who spent time in an institution as a child, while 40% are from mothers. Most mothers applying are aged 61 to 70 years, while the majority applying for time spent as a child are aged 51 to 60.
Around 34,000 people are eligible to apply for redress under the scheme. However, some 24,000 survivors are excluded including those who spent less than six months in an institution as a child.
A number of people are considering legal action over their exclusion from the scheme, as previously reported by The Journal.
*Name changed for privacy reasons
More infromation about the redress scheme can be read here. For general queries or assistance, the Payment Scheme Office helpline can be contacted at +353 1 522 9992 (Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm) or by emailing info@paymentscheme.ie.
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