Debate contribution: Inquiry (Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses) and Redress Scheme Bill: Consideration Stage
Debate contribution by Mr Stewart Dickson on .
- MLA
- Mr Stewart Dickson
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 19 May 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Inquiry (Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses) and Redress Scheme Bill: Consideration Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5549907
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Much has been said about the second group of amendments. Much of it is about entitlement to payment and the amount. I do not intend to go into any further detail, because other Members have already done that. It was clear to the Committee that £10,000 was an insufficient sum of money. It is a figure that was used for the historical institutional abuse victims a number of years ago, and, as other Members have mentioned, inflation has eroded that figure ever since. I am pleased that the junior Minister has agreed with Sinéad's amendment, and I have no doubt that the House will unite around that today. Yes, there is an understanding of the budgetary pressures on the Department, and officials have outlined those to us on numerous occasions when in front of the Committee. However, I reiterate the point that I made earlier to junior Minister Reilly in respect of all those who will ultimately have to contribute, either to this admissions-based scheme or, finally, to the redress scheme for those who will ultimately go to the public inquiry. That definitely includes the institutions, this place — we are the inheritors of the previous Government in this place — and the United Kingdom Government, which had Ministers who were responsible over many years. I know, Mr Deputy Speaker, that you have referred to the Speaker's ruling, and I hope not to incur your wrath, but it is worth reminding the House that our Committee report dealt with the removal of the arbitrary posthumous date of 29 September in clause 31. The Committee did not reach that decision or position lightly. That position directly addressed the concerns of survivors and campaign groups. We heard from organisation after organisation. We heard from Birth Mothers and their Children for Justice, Birth Mothers and their Children Together, WAVE, Adopt NI and experts from our two universities and from Dublin City University. The evidence was consistent and overwhelming. That date is borrowed from an announcement of an entirely different inquiry, and it has no principled basis in justice. I need to say this clearly to those people who wrote to our Committee and made incredibly brave and emotional statements with regard to the legislation: the legislation is not finished; there will be a Further Consideration Stage and a Final Stage. Therefore, while I cannot hold out hope for those who are sitting in the Public Gallery today, there are opportunities to put this right, and I will continue to press for that in the other forums and the right places, if this Chamber is not the right place to do that today. The Bill does important things, and I will support its passage, with the caveats that my colleague Paula Bradshaw outlined about the various amendments in group 2, but we need to be direct about what is in front of us today. Our Committee's amendment to clause 31 has not been selected, and I want to place on record my disappointment about that.
501 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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