Debate contribution: Mother-and-baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses: Public Consultation on a Statutory Inquiry and Redress Schemes

Debate contribution by Ms Michelle O'Neill on 25 June 2024.

MLA

Ms Michelle O'Neill

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

25 June 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statements

Heading

Mother-and-baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses: Public Consultation on a Statutory Inquiry and Redress Schemes

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4498144

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The deputy First Minister and I wish to inform Members that the Executive Office will launch a public consultation on proposals to establish a statutory public inquiry and a financial redress scheme for those affected by mother-and-baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses and their pathways and practices. The consultation will be launched this week. Today marks another important milestone and an acknowledgement of the suffering inflicted on mothers and children in mother-and-baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses. We have spoken directly to survivors, and we know that they still suffer the trauma of their appalling experiences, a trauma that was only ever made worse by years of being ignored when they sought the justice that they deserved. At the meeting with survivors, we thanked them for their significant efforts to seek the truth and an acknowledgement of the terrible wrongs that they and others endured. We welcome the cross-party interest and support that this important matter has attracted to date. As Members are already aware, we are keen to keep the work moving so that those affected and their families can access truth, acknowledgement and accountability. I am sure that we can all agree that they have waited for far too long, and we all want to play our part to address the most difficult and shameful part of our past. The public consultation aims to gather a wide range of views. That will help shape the necessary legislation to set up the inquiry to establish answers to the three core questions: what happened, why it happened and who was responsible. Additionally, we want to avoid the mistakes of the past, where victims and survivors were required to wait for too many years before they could access financial redress. That is why the scheme will provide for a more immediate and standardised payment initially. A further, individually assessed payment will also be made available following the work of the inquiry. Victims and survivors have long campaigned for justice, and, while we are aware that it has taken too long to get to this point, we want to recognise some of the work achieved since the Executive agreed the truth recovery design panel's recommendations in November 2021. Notably, the first phase of the investigation has already begun, with the appointment of the Truth Recovery Independent Panel in April 2023. We thank the panel for the publication of its interim report last month. For both the independent panel and the statutory inquiry to carry out meaningful investigations, it is vital that they have access to records that they can assess in order to make evidence-based recommendations. For that reason, we are pleased to update Members on the significant progress that has already been achieved in that area. Since the House passed the Preservation of Documents (Historical Institutions) Act 2022 in March of that year, PRONI has been able to engage with institutions and begin the process of accessing, preserving, digitising and cataloguing approximately 4,500 private records, with over 3,000 of those items having already been deposited. All of that work is being progressed in parallel with the delivery of dedicated and specialist support for victims and survivors through the Victims and Survivors Service (VSS), in partnership with WAVE Trauma Centre and Adopt NI. Those services have been designed with victims and survivors' groups and others to make sure that they are survivor-led, accessible and responsive. Over 300 people have been able to access those support services to date. Yesterday, the deputy First Minister and I met victims and survivors from the consultative forum. We felt that it was important that they hear first-hand about the next steps for the public consultation, and we wanted to thank them for all their efforts to this point. They now need the establishment of a public inquiry and delivery of the redress scheme without delay. Members will know from our statement on the legislative programme in recent weeks that we hope to see the draft Bill to establish the public inquiry and the financial redress scheme introduced in the Assembly before the end of this year. The consultation will run for 12 weeks. It will involve a series of online and in-person events that will allow those affected to ask questions and gain a better view of the proposals and help them to contribute. We encourage everyone who has an interest in the shape of the inquiry and redress scheme to get involved. That includes those directly or indirectly affected by the institutions, members of statutory and non-statutory organisations, health and social care professionals and the wider general public. All views expressed as part of the consultation will be fully considered before finalising the draft Bill. The Bill will be brought to the Executive for agreement before being introduced to the Assembly. Finally, in launching the consultation, we acknowledge again the tireless and effective campaigning of all the victims and survivors that has helped to bring us to this point. Their patience, determination and dignity throughout these years have been absolutely remarkable. We hope that the steps announced today will provide them with some comfort and reassurance that we, as an Executive and Assembly, are committed to supporting them.

The public consultation is about gathering all the information, about the framework on which we will proceed and about giving powers to the panel and the inquiry to scope out all the information on how women ended up in the institutions and what happened to their children in mother-and-baby cases. We need to find out all that information to take it forward. We have already started the work of engagement with the institutions. As I said in relation to historical institutional abuse, we need to pursue the institutions. They have to pay redress, because that is also part of the healing process. That will be an ongoing piece of work as we move through this area of work now. The priority for the consultation is to put a shape to the inquiry: what the inquiry will look at, what its scope should be and the panel work as well. This is very informative, but it is absolutely an opportunity for us to get this right in this instance. We are all determined to do that.

It is really important that we look at how we are accessible in the consultation. Yesterday, when we met the victims and survivors forum, we made it clear to them that we want to be accessible. We will establish ways for them to engage, and there will be someone to help them to do that. Language is important when we talk about a horrific time in people's lives. We have to be sensitive to that. I want to make sure that we are sensitive in the consultation. We will work with the victims and survivors' group and with the engagement forum and make sure that we create space so that people can sit down and, in their way, put across their views on what should happen. I am absolutely determined and think that we can do the right thing by victims and survivors and make sure that everything that is required for them to participate fully is done.

Thank you for that question. We all recognise the difficulties caused by not having access to records. For many victims and survivors, it has been a real cause of distress and, for obvious reasons, frustration. As the Member will know, access to adoption records is the responsibility of the Department of Health, which, we understand, worked closely with victims and survivors of mother-and-baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses to revise the guidance used by the health and social care trusts, which was published in November 2023. The updated guidance has been implemented, so it is now in effect. Officials will continue to closely monitor the situation. There seems to have been some positive movement on it, and we hope that that is maintained over the monitoring period, which ends in November 2024. We are, however, aware of continued issues in some areas. Individuals are being supported with those issues as well.

1,347 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:49 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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