THE majority of religious orders implicated in Ireland’s mother and baby homes scandal have refused to contribute to a redress scheme supporting survivors.
Eight religious bodies, which were identified to have been involved in the mother and baby home and county home institutions which operated in Ireland up until the late 1990s, were asked to make a contribution to a government support scheme to compensate survivors.
In 2021, the Irish Government committed to develop the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme after the findings of an inquiry by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation were published.
Then minister Roderic O’Gorman, began a process of engagement with each of the organisations involved, with a view to securing financial contributions to the cost of the Payment Scheme.
He initially wrote to eight religious organisations referred to in the work of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation.
They were the Congregation of Lady of the Good Shepherd, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, The Sisters of Bons Secours, The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of St. John of God, The Legion of Mary and The Church of Ireland.
In May 2023 is was confirmed that Sheila Nunan had been appointed as an independent negotiator to lead the discussions with the religious bodies over what contribution they might make to the scheme.
Ms Nunan liaised with them over a period of 20 months and published her report on those negotiations on March 31, 2025.
The report shows that only one body has agreed to make a financial donation to the redress scheme following the negotiations.
The Sisters of Bon Secours offered a cash contribution of €12.97m which the report claims is “in line with the negotiator’s determination of a meaningful contribution” and the government has agreed to accept.
Rather than making a financial contribution, The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul have offered a contribution of a building, which the government has agreed to “consider” and “engage further with the congregation in relation to it”.
A third body, the Sisters of St John of God, offered a conditional donation of €75,000 to be used as a charitable donation towards a charitable purpose associated with mother and baby home survivors.
The remaining bodies did not offer any contribution to the survivors redress scheme.
Responding to the report, Children’s Minister Norma Foley said those bodies who have made no contribution “could have done more”.
“The state has accepted its own responsibility for what happened to women and their children in Mother and Baby Homes by firstly apologising and also setting up a Payment Scheme,” she said today.
“A process was put in place to seek a financial contribution towards the cost of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme from religious bodies associated with Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions,” she explained.
“While acknowledging the financial contribution by the Sisters of Bon Secours, I believe that much more could have been done by the other religious bodies concerned.”
The Minister has asked those bodies to reflect on their decision.
“I would encourage other religious bodies to reflect further on their willingness to make a meaningful contribution to the Payment Scheme and note that my Department is available to engage with them on this matter at any stage,” she said.
She also thanked Ms Nunan for her “excellent and extensive” work on the negotiations.
“She approached the task with integrity and in-depth attention to detail, and her report is testament to thatm,” she said.
“I understand that it was a challenging process, particularly as it was, of legal necessity, a voluntary process whereby the negotiator could not compel bodies to produce information or offer contributions,” she added.
“To that end, I will ask my officials to liaise with the Office of the Attorney General to consider if any further options are available to the State in this regard.
“Finally, I also wish to re-emphasise that Government is committed to implementing all aspects of the Action Plan.
"The benefits provided under the Payment Scheme, as well as the commitments and initiatives being implemented more broadly under the Action Plan, remain in place regardless of the response of the religious bodies to this process.”
