Many survivors distressed over eligibility requirements for Mother and Baby scheme
The issue has contributed to further re-traumatisation of some, according to Patricia Carey who has published her first annual report.
Ms Carey was appointed in March last year to ensure that the collective interests and voices of survivors of institutional abuse are heard and inform government actions and policies.
The role encompasses Mother and Baby Institutions, County Home Institutions, Magdalene Laundries, Industrial and Reformatory School Institutions, and related institutions, and those adopted, boarded out or the subject of an illegal birth registration.
During her first year in the position, the Special Advocate met with over 1,300 survivors of institutional abuse and forced family separation in Ireland and overseas.
The report states that eligibility requirements have "enforced a hierarchy of suffering according to arbitrary criteria".
Exclusions highlighted by survivors have included being boarded out, fostered out or placed 'at nurse' as children; survivors who died before the State Apology on 13 January 2021, preventing the families of those who have died from making an application for compensation; children who spent less than 180 days in an institution; those affected by work payments being limited to all County Homes but only two Mother and Baby Home Institutions.
The report notes that many survivors deemed eligible under the current terms of the scheme and who have received redress, shared their strong feelings of "distress and guilt" in applying for and accepting redress, when others in the same institutions had been left behind.
The Special Advocate has strongly recommended "the urgent expansion" of the current redress scheme.
During the year it was also brought to the attention of the Special Advocate that there is a lot of misinformation surrounding the Magdalen Restorative Justice Ex-Gratia Scheme.
The report notes that it is not widely known that the scheme is still open to receiving applications and that there is no time limit to apply to the scheme.
The Special Advocate has called on anyone who might be eligible for this redress scheme to apply.
Accessing records
When it comes to accessing records and files, Ms Carey has stressed urgency in the report due to many survivors spending decades searching for information. In some instances, survivors have died before gaining access to their records.
The Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 provided a right of access to original birth certificates, birth and early life and care information for people who were born in a Mother and Baby or County Home Institution, and those adopted, boarded out, the subject of an illegal birth registration, or who otherwise had questions in relation to their origins.
However, the Special Advocate has heard from hundreds of Survivors and Affected Persons who do not have access to the records related to the time they spent in institutions or related to their experience of forced family separation.
In some instances, survivors have been unable to access records relating to their birth and early life and care, education, health and medical records, and their placement for adoption in Ireland and abroad, due to the records being destroyed, moved, or in private or religious ownership.
Survivors also expressed ongoing challenges in finding accurate information in their search for details of family members, as well as difficulties in accessing records such as burial and death certificates for children that died in institutions.
The Special Advocate has noted that she receives frequent communications from survivors and their family members seeking information and records relating to relatives, often as part of decades-long searches, with some unsure if a relative died or is still alive somewhere.
"This is causing ongoing pain and suffering to people seeking information and closure on their family search," according to the report.
Feedback from Survivors and Affected Persons to the Special Advocate is "consistent" in relation to the difficulties in understanding where to begin looking for and accessing records.
Information on where records are held and how individuals and their families can access the records related to them is not clearly available, understood or explained in plain English.
The report points out that this is further exacerbated when people are based overseas and are unfamiliar with Irish state structures, as well as for people with limited literacy and for those who experience digital poverty.
The report recommends more supports to access and understand the records.
It is the position of the Special Advocate that the State must ensure "full access" to all records which are held in private and religious ownership.
Burial and memorialisation
The report has noted ongoing communications from survivors and survivor groups to the Special Advocate in relation to the need for dignified burial and the sensitive treatment of mass graves, unmarked graves and sites of burial across institutions in Ireland.
"This subject continues to cause immense distress, pain and upset to Survivors and Affected Persons who lack information and either a place of burial or a space for remembering family members," according to the report.
Many have emphasised the pressing need for Government to investigate the children that died in Mother and Baby Institutions and to establish as much information about the location of burial sites at these institutions as possible, including access to professional expertise and survey work, as appropriate.
Ms Carey recommended including Survivors and Affected Persons in all the decision-making about the National Centre for Remembrance.
The Department of Children has announced the National Centre Steering Group would be expanded to include four survivor representatives.
Housing
Another concern raised in the annual report relates to housing.
The report says that good quality, affordable social housing is critical to survivors being fully supported to remain living in their own homes for as long as possible.
A significant percentage are residing in or are on waiting lists for social housing and live in areas of social deprivation.
A major concern centres around secondary institutionalisation in later life in nursing or care homes.
Therefore, Ms Carey has said it is critical that survivors have access to good quality, affordable social housing and are fully supported to remain living in their own homes for as long as possible.
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Patricia Carey, Special Advocate for Survivors of Institutional Abuse, discusses the first Annual Report which highlights the interests and voices of survivors.
