Birth Mothers and their Children For Justice meet with NI First Minister

Our clients, Birth Mothers and their Children for Justice are the largest collective group campaigning for a full statutory Inquiry into the abuse suffered by women and children in the Mother and Baby Homes and Laundries in Northern Ireland. The campaign group is set to meet with the First Minister, Michelle O’Neill today to call for action and to seek that truth and justice will be delivered for all victims and survivors.

Since 2012, Birth Mothers and their Children for Justice have went through many years and various engagement processes with Government officials, a public campaign as well as the Inter Departmental Working Group in order to uncover truth and justice. When the HIA Inquiry was implemented, the group demanded for truth and justice in the format of a Statutory Inquiry however, this has not happened and the group have not been listened to. The ongoing governmental delay has led to further avoidable suffering and consequently many of the members passing away without justice, recompense, or a public apology.

In October 2021 the Truth Recovery Design Panel published its findings which shone a light on numerous widespread abuses which occurred in the past and persist, not least in their long-term impact, and which required a transitional justice approach to remedying such serious human rights violations.

It identified the need for an integrated truth investigation to investigate issues of individual, institutional, organisational and state departmental/agent responsibility experienced in Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries, and Workhouses.

In October 2021 FM Paul Givan and DFM Michelle O’Neill accepted the recommendations of the Truth Recovery Design Panel in full and committed to TEO delivering on the recommendations and suggested that they should be expedited. [i]

The Report was fully endorsed and agreed to be implemented by the NI Executive on 15 November 2021.

Following the collapse of devolution, the campaign group have had growing concerns in relation to ongoing delays and to the eligibility criteria for spouses, partners and surviving children who will be seeking redress on behalf of victims and survivors in Mother and Baby Homes.

The group have been advised by the TEO that any individuals applying on behalf of a survivor would not be able to bring a claim on behalf of any deceased survivor before 15^th November 2021. They see this as a cost cutting exercise.

The result of this restriction is to limit the Redress Scheme and to exclude the very people who tirelessly campaigned to put justice for Birth Mothers and their Children to the forefront of the agenda.

The trauma and distress from a lack of an investigation and truth has been passed on to their families who now suffer and continue to carry the weight of this burden. The ongoing failure to deliver on the report compiled by Prof Phil Scraton, Dr Meabh O’Rourke and Deirdre Mahon in a short number of months is considered a further insult to those campaigners who engaged in good faith and were made commitments for a full public Inquiry, An Independent Panel, Release of Documents and Redress.

The group have campaigned over the last ten years, and call on the Executive to Deliver promises and commitments that were made to the survivors and victims in 2021.

Adele Johnston BM&CFJ

Birth Mother:

“Due to the hiatus caused by the lack of Government we are well behind on the implementation of the recommendations promised. Now is the time to focus on delivering for all affected. We have waited too long for truth and Justice. People have died and every moment counts.”

[i] Michelle O’Neill to push for public inquiry into mother and baby homes | UTV | ITV News