Sinn Féin MEP for Ireland South, Kathleen Funchion, has accused the next government of continuing to compound the hurt and distress of survivors by excluding any provision for the reversal of the six-month rule in the draft Programme for Government.

MEP Funchion said:

“I am alarmed that a number of independents have willingly entered into government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael despite vehemently condemning the government’s Mother and Baby Homes Institutions Payment Scheme during the last Dáil.

“Having now been courted by Fiánna Fail and Fine Gael, their vocal advocacy on behalf of survivors in the last Dáil now rings hollow for many survivors, advocates and their families.

“The draft Programme for Government mentions survivors in one single short sentence, in a document that runs to some 162 pages.

“The exclusion of approximately 12,000 survivors and thousands of children nursed or boarded out is one of the greatest scandals of the last Dáil, and this position is now being maintained by so-called independents.

“I continue to meet and advocate on behalf of survivors of Mother and Baby Homes, and the hurt doesn’t just fade away because the Government wants to move past it.

“What is galling for so many is to see the scandalous waste during the last Dáil term is just swept under the carpet, when the small amount of money needed to extend the Mother and Baby Redress Scheme to all survivors cannot be found.

“I would strongly encourage those independents who have joined the next government to put their money where their mouth is, and fight to ensure all survivors are entitled to redress.”