NUNTIATORIA

Northern Ireland Launches Inquiry and Redress Bill for Victims of Mother and Baby Homes

Background
From 1922 until 1995, thousands of women and children in Northern Ireland passed through Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries, and Workhouses. Many suffered grave injustices: forced adoptions, degrading treatment, lack of medical care, and lifelong stigma. Calls for accountability intensified after the 2021 truth recovery design panel, commissioned following research by Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University, recommended a statutory inquiry and comprehensive redress scheme¹.

The Legislation
In June 2025 the Inquiry (Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses) and Redress Scheme Bill was introduced at Stormont². The Bill has two principal aims:

• To establish a statutory public inquiry into the operation of these institutions, with legal powers to compel evidence, guided by the PANEL principles of participation, accountability, non-discrimination, empowerment, and legality³.
• To create a redress scheme, beginning with a standardised payment of £10,000 for survivors, and £2,000 for each qualifying relative of those who died on or after 29 September 2011. A second phase of individually assessed payments will follow once the inquiry has concluded⁴.

The financial cost of the initiative is estimated at £80 million, including £58 million for survivor payments, £14 million for the inquiry, and £8 million for administration⁵.

Committee Stage and Consultation
The Bill passed its Second Stage on 24 June 2025 with strong cross-party support⁶. The Committee for the Executive Office, chaired by Paula Bradshaw MLA, is now scrutinising the text and has launched an international consultation. Survivors and relatives may submit their views until 29 September 2025. Familiarisation events are planned in Belfast and online in early September⁷.

Bradshaw emphasised: “This is a Bill to make provision relating to one of the most distressing and hurtful episodes in Northern Ireland’s history… Our role is to ensure that the inquiry and redress scheme are strong, robust, and fit for purpose.”

Concerns and Criticism
Survivor groups have raised serious concerns about the scheme’s design. The cut-off date for posthumous payments excludes many families whose relatives died before 2011, a restriction described as arbitrary and unjust⁸. The £10,000 flat rate has also been criticised as inadequate to address the scale of harm endured⁹. Others fear the eligibility criteria may leave behind those associated with workhouses, private nursing homes, or who emigrated abroad¹⁰.

Conclusion
The Bill represents a long-awaited step toward justice. Its ultimate credibility will depend upon whether survivors’ voices are genuinely heard during consultation and whether legislators act to correct the flaws already identified. For the victims and families who have waited decades, the coming months are decisive. 🔝

¹ Truth recovery panel and academic research, TheyWorkForYou, 24 June 2025; P.A. Duffy Solicitors, “Mother and Baby Homes in Northern Ireland”; Victims Service consultation notice; NI Assembly legislative background.
² NI Assembly, “Inquiry and Redress Scheme Bill,” 16 June 2025; The Executive Office, “Inquiry and Redress Scheme to be Established,” June 2025.
³ TheyWorkForYou, 24 June 2025 (debate record).
⁴ Executive Office statement, June 2025.
⁵ TheyWorkForYou, 24 June 2025 (costings debate).
⁶ NI Assembly debate record, 24 June 2025.
⁷ NI Assembly Committee for the Executive Office, consultation details; Victims Service notice, July 2025.
⁸ P.A. Duffy Solicitors, op. cit.
⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ TheyWorkForYou, 24 June 2025 (concerns raised during debate).