UK prime minister Keir Starmer has backed Philomena’s Law, a proposal to stop Irish women who were of victims of abuse in mother and baby homes from being financially penalised on their benefit payments due to compensation they got from the Irish State.
The move was announced on Friday in the formal joint communique from both governments at the UK-Ireland Summit in Cork.
“We acknowledge the suffering of those who spent time in mother and baby homes during the 20th century,” the governments said.
“In recognition of the lifelong impact of this, today the UK agrees to disregard payments under Ireland’s Mother and Baby Redress Scheme, ensuring that survivors in both countries are treated the same and can receive the compensation to which they are rightly entitled.”
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The Republic also agreed to disregard any compensation from UK schemes.
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Under British law, Irish women who had moved to the UK and who had accepted Irish compensation potentially had their UK means-tested benefits cut. In effect, they faced a financial penalty for seeking redress.
Campaigners, including Labour MP Liam Conlon and the Irish in Britain lobby group, had argued that the financial anomaly was deterring many victims from taking up compensation.
Conlon, who introduced a Bill in the House of Commons to help the women, told a Westminster debate a year ago that, at that stage, only 5 per cent of the 13,000 eligible Irish women in Britain had applied for redress.
The long campaign ran by Conlon and Irish in Britain had achieved cross-party backing from more than 100 UK parliamentarians. Starmer has now accepted their argument and, in the communique, effectively promised the legal change.
“When I introduced Philomena’s Law to parliament exactly one year ago, I said this was about more than redress payments,” said Conlon.
“It was also about ensuring that we tackle the stigma and shame that have wrongly followed so many women for so long, and about showing thousands of survivors the kindness and dignity they have so often been denied throughout their lives.”
Conlon said he was “delighted” to have secured Starmer’s backing, which he said would “help to deliver long-awaited justice for nearly 13,000 survivors in Britain”.
Speaking in Cork on Friday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it was “very welcome news” and that the UK-Ireland summit he hosted in the city this week was the “catalyst to getting that over the line”.
“Anyone who receives redress payments from a Mother and Baby Homes redress scheme will not have their social protection income affected or undermined as a result of that.”
Brian Dalton, the chief executive of Irish in Britain, said it was “welcome news for those living with the legacy of institutional abuse”. He said it brought “fairness for those waiting to access redress”.
“For our members organisations providing specialist support, it brings clarity to their vital work,” said Dalton.
Patricia Carey, special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse, commended Conlon for his campaign. She said the old financial anomaly had caused “fear and anxiety” among those who had suffered harm and wanted to claim redress.
Philomena’s Law, as the legislative proposal put forward by Conlon became known, was named after Limerick-born campaigner Philomena Lee.
She spent 50 years searching for her son, who was forcibly taken from her at a mother and baby home in Tipperary and adopted in the United States.
She was later played by Oscar-winning actress Judi Dench in a 2013 Hollywood adaptation of her story, Philomena, which also starred Steve Coogan.
Following the announcement in Cork, Lee said she hoped “this moment brings long-awaited justice for survivors living in Britain”.
Conlon’s political campaign had also been backed by Labour MPs including Irish-born parliamentarians Deirdre Costigan, originally from Walkinstown and now MP for Ealing Southall in London, and Damien Egan, born in Cork and now MP for Bristol North East.
It is also backed by the SDLP’s MPs including party leader Claire Hanna and former leader Colum Eastwood.
