The Government is facing growing pressure to explain why it continues to demand €26.2 million from the Legion of Mary to contribute to the Mother and Baby Homes redress scheme.  The Department of Children is sticking to its position despite key findings advising against the action.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic, former Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD criticised the Government’s stance, saying: “I fail to see however why the department views the Legion of Mary/Regina Coeli as a relevant organisation when neither the Commission of Investigation nor the independent negotiator found against them or recommended that they should contribute to redress.”

The Regina Coeli Hostel in Dublin, run by the Legion of Mary from 1930 to 1998, was examined by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, but found it unique among the 18 institutions examined. It operated not as a mother and baby home, but as a hostel offering shelter to homeless women, including unmarried mothers, women struggling with addiction, mental illness, or poverty.

Moreover, unlike most institutions of the time, mothers were allowed to stay with their children indefinitely and to keep them. Records show that between the 1930s and 1980s, the percentage of mothers who kept their babies rose from under 30pc to over 87pc, although much of this was due to changing attitudes and more financial support from the State.