Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and officials for attending the committee today. I have questions about a couple of issues. One is the mother and baby homes payment scheme and the second is the Decision Support Service, DSS. I will ask about them separately.

The State's response to the legacy issues in the mother and baby homes in this year's Estimates is to make €10 million available to set up the mother and baby institutions payment scheme. It looks likely the Bill will pass Report Stage. Shockingly, it has been said that this scheme will exclude 40% of survivors and deny healthcare to two thirds. As was said last week, this scheme excludes survivors who were separated from their mothers before the age of six months in a mother and baby institution or county home. I still have not received a logical explanation for how this six-month timeframe was arrived at. Will the Minister shed some light on this today? This exclusion ignores the lifelong consequences of forced family separation and loss of identity for these 24,000 people. Everyone in this room, including the Minister, will have received thousands of emails in recent weeks from survivors outlining that the Government's plan to deny these survivors recognition is a blatant act of discrimination. My first question is about the six-month timeframe and how it was arrived at. My second question is about the Estimates. If the 24,000 survivors the Government intends to exclude are miraculously included, will the €10 million in the Estimates be enough to start the scheme?