Commission To Inquire Into Child Abuse - Church of Ireland Institutions

Church of Ireland Institutions

Campaigners are also engaged in trying to extend the redress scheme to victims of institutional abuse in places such as the Bethany Mother and Child Home in Rathgar. Often girls "in trouble" were brought to the home by a Protestant minister. While these were affiliated to the Church of Ireland, and used by its parishioners, it is claimed the home was not run by the church itself, however members of the church sat on the board of the home and the home was designated by the Church of Ireland as a suitable place for Protestant girls on remand, and recognised by the courts as a place of detention. The Bethany Survivors Group continues to campaign to the newly elected government for inclusion in the redress scheme.

Some residential institutions founded and run by members of the Church of Ireland such as Stewart's Hospital and Miss Carr's Children's Home, do to their connection with the Eastern Health Board, do come under the remit of the redress board scheme and victims are entitled to petition it for compensation. These were added to the redress list following complaints and campaigns that they were being excluded.

Campaigners also campaigned for a number of Protestant run children's residences and former orphanages such as The Smyly Homes which were regulated by the state, and subject to departmental inspection, to be included in the Redress scheme. There was eleven Mrs. Smyly's homes which the government is in dialogue with over some contribution to the redress fund. Some Church of Ireland run institutions for older children like the Cottage Home and Birds Nest have been included in the list of institutions for the Redress Scheme, since these homes were found to have allowed a vaccines to be tested on their residents in trials by the Department of Medical Microbiology at University College Dublin.