Budget of €24 million for legal fees under mother and baby home redress scheme

Most of the fees are expected to go on legal advice for survivors

Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said the scheme for mother and baby home survivors would not require any cross-examination of survivors, just proof of residency in the institution. Picture: RollingNews.ie

The government is budgeting for €24 million in legal fees for the new €800 million compensation scheme for survivors of mother and baby homes.

A report from civil servants who designed the scheme show that there was a strong desire to avoid a repeat of the high legal fees for the redress scheme for abuse survivors of industrial schools.

Almost €200 million of the cost of that €1.5 billion redress scheme went towards legal fees, ...