Help support Philomena's Law - Contact your local MP today with our free template
April 6, 2025
Help support former residents of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes now living in Britain.
There are over 13,000 survivors of Ireland’s mother & baby homes living in Britain. “Philomena’s Law” seeks to remove a barrier to many survivors seeking the redress that they are entitled to by protecting redress scheme payments from being calculated within means-tested benefits & social care arrangements.
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Our Midlands Irish Survivors Service supports former residents of institutional abuse in Ireland. As part of this work, we are involved with Philomena’s Law, which will hopefully be passed in the coming months. Many of you may be familiar with Philomena Lee, who this law is named after. The story of Philomena’s search for her son Anthony (who she gave birth to in a Mother and Baby Home in County Tipperary) was the basis of the Oscar-nominated film Philomena, which stars Judi Dench and Steve Coogan.
Labour MP Liam Conlon has introduced this draft legislation in the House of Commons in an effort to get a fairer deal for Survivors of institutions. The current redress scheme for Survivors enables former residents to receive financial compensation from the Irish government for the time they spent in Mother and Baby Homes. As it stands, any Survivor who is receiving means-tested benefits when they receive a compensation payment from the scheme is in danger of losing these benefits. This has a huge impact on Survivors who are yet again being denied the justice and kindness they deserve. If this legislation is passed, it will stop these benefits from being affected, and some cases, ceased altogether.
Getting this law passed would change the lives of so many. As a charity, we are aware of many Survivors who have prolonged accepting the redress payment, or who have simply felt unable to accept it at all due to a fear of being penalised for using these funds.
We have been working with Liam Conlon, and with other organisations supporting Survivors to try to raise awareness and to promote support for this law, so that it has the best possible chance of being implemented. The most effective and important way to support this law is to write to your local MP and ask them to publicly back Philomena’s Law. We would urge you to use the below email addresses to contact your local MP in Coventry:
Zarah Sultana, Labour MP for Coventry South: zarah.sultana.mp@parliament.uk
Mary Creagh, Labour MP for Coventry East: mary@marycreagh.co.uk
Taiwo Owatemi, Labour MP for Coventry North West: taiwo.owatemi.mp@parliament.uk
To get the best chance of your MP seeing your email, you should add ‘Constitutent Request’ in the subject of this email. We hope you will lend us the support we need to get justice for Irish Survivors. If you have any questions, do get in touch with Manisha O’Malley (Survivors Co-ordinator) at
manisha.omalley@covirishsoc.org.uk or call us on 02476256629.
You can follow the link below to download a free letter template, which you can send to your local MP in support of Philomena's Law.
We are hiring for - PA to the Manager This post is a 3 year fixed term role. Salary: £15,000 P.A, 15 hours per week. About us: Established in 1993, Coventry Irish Society (CIS) is a Charity providing a wide range of community health and support services to the Irish Community in Coventry. Coventry Irish Society has supported and celebrated the Irish community in Coventry and the Midlands since 1993 — from health and welfare services to festivals, heritage projects including our Oral History project ‘Irish Heart, Coventry Home’. We're a small dynamic charity with a big impact, and we're looking for an organised, personable PA to help our CEO keep everything running smoothly. The Role: As PA to the Manager, you'll be the right hand that keeps our finances, records, and databases in order — freeing up our Manager to focus on the bigger picture. This is a role for someone who enjoys precision and detail as much as people, at the centre of a busy and welcoming charity. To apply: Please email CEO Simon McCarthy simon.mccarthy@covirishsoc.org.uk with your CV and reasons for applying. Download and view full job role description below.
The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme provides financial payments and health supports to eligible people who spent time in a Mother and Baby or County Home in the Republic of Ireland. For straightforward information on the application process, eligibility criteria, and institutions covered by the Payment Scheme, please see the link to download an information leaflet below. For detailed information and other queries, please visit the GOV.ie website at the link below. Visit the Gov.ie website by clicking here.
The Department for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration has announced the Stardust Recognition Payment Scheme. This is a scheme of ex-gratia recognition payments to survivors who were injured in the Stardust fire in 1981. All survivor beneficiaries of the original Stardust Victims Compensation Tribunal will be solely eligible for this recognition payment. Each person will be eligible to receive a fixed recognition payment of €20,000. Applications for the recognition payments can be made online or by post. A Stardust Recognition Payment Helpline is available during office hours at 01-859 2268 for those who wish to request an application form to be sent to their home address. Help completing the application is available via the helpline and email sdrqueries@justic.ie Applications will be accepted until 5pm on 17 August 2026 The Stardust Recognition Scheme can be accessed at the below link.
