A Donegal Deputy is calling for all former residents of Mother and Baby Homes to be included in the redress scheme.
The recently-annouced scheme excludes people who were born in an institution but spent less than six months.
“The starting point should be, and must be, the survivors,” Independent TD Thomas Pringle told the Dáil.
“It truly is a travesty that those who lived or were born in these terrible institutions and spent less than six months there have been completely left out and excluded from claiming deserved redress. Who is this government to put a timeline on trauma?”
The deputy addressed the Dáil on Tuesday evening to support Sinn Féin’s motion to see an expansion of the Mother and Baby Homes redress scheme to all former residents, no matter how long or short their stay.
The deputy said: “It is clear that there is a complete lack of survivor voice in this scheme.”
The Dáil heard that in the Stranorlar County Home in Donegal alone, 343 children died in infancy or early childhood. Pringl TD said reports on the institutions that have come out over the past few years have been “harrowing and devastating”.
The Stranorlar County Home admitted 1,646 unmarried mothers between 1922 and 1964. The average age of women admitted was 24. The youngest maternity admission was 13 years old. 1,777 children were admitted or born at the home on Lifford Road, which was once a workhouse.
Deputy Pringle said: “Many of those who lived were subject to awful conditions and unfortunately experienced separation anxiety, PTSD and other mental health issues throughout their lives. The very least that we can do is give full and fair redress to every single one of those impacted. This is the very least that survivors deserve after all that they have been forced to endure and continue to endure.
“I am calling on the government to do the right thing here,” he said.
