Mother and Baby Home survivors deserve respect and fair redress

TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has said that the Government has failed the survivors of the Mother and Baby Homes all over again by putting forward an unacceptable redress proposal that is both exclusionary and insulting.
 
Teachta Crowe said: “It’s time to respect Mother and Baby Homes survivors and their families. “Survivors bravely came forward and told their stories, because they wanted and needed to be heard.  However, many have been left feeling deeply frustrated and let down by the appalling way in which the redress scheme has been designed. “The scheme is an insult to survivors and totally fails to take into account their needs. This isn’t good enough. Far too many survivors are excluded by the scheme’s criteria, including people who were ‘boarded out’. This government has failed survivors time and time again. This failure to listen and the continued exclusion of groups and individuals only compounds their hurt.
 
“The government must go back to the drawing board and urgently review the scheme’s time-based criteria, exclusion of children who were boarded out, access to the enhanced Medical Card, proposed payment rates and end the unfair exclusion of some survivors and institutions. “The Government must also seek immediate and substantive recourse from religious orders and pharmaceutical companies to contribute to the redress scheme. “This is all the very least that survivors deserve. The government has treated them with complete contempt time and time again and it is long overdue that they be respected and that their needs are met.
 
“It is vital that the government engages with survivors, not just as a box ticking exercise but to genuinely listen to them and then act urgently to meet their needs. “The government must do the right thing. It is time to respect survivors and their families.”