Mother and Child Scheme

The Mother and Child Scheme was a healthcare programme in Ireland that would later become remembered as a major political crisis involving primarily the Irish Government and Roman Catholic Church in the early 1950s.

The scheme was referred to as the Mother and Child Service in legislation. A brochure, "What the new service means to every family", was prepared. It explained the new service but was not issued to the public. The scheme was engulfed in crisis before this could happen.

Since the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 responsibility in the government for healthcare had lain with the Minister for Local Government and Public Health. No significant reform of healthcare occurred in this time and the Catholic Church still retained effective control through the ownership of hospitals and schools, while family doctors still largely practised in isolation of other medical professionals.

The Fianna Fáil T.D. Seán MacEntee started the process of reform as Minister for Local Government & Public Health in 1943. After the Second World War there was renewed optimism after the depression of the preceding decades. Once the Emergency was over the political agenda started to shift from Irish Civil War politics, which had dominated politics, to the domestic agenda and social issues. In particular issues like employment, health and housing came to the fore and this manifested itself in a move away from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Regarding healthcare, international trends such as in the National Health Service of the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe were noticed by the Irish political system. The Minister for Health was created as a separate Minister of the Government by the 1946 Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act; this act also created the Minister for Social Welfare. Problems, such as a high infant mortality, increased concerns and the Fianna Fáil government published a much delayed White Paper in 1947. This paper was followed by the 1947 Health Act, in which the scheme was provided for in Part III of the act. President O'Kelly convened a meeting of the Council of State to consider whether Part III should be referred to the Supreme Court, but he decided against doing so. However, the 1948 general election resulted in the surprise fall of Fianna Fáil from government and instead the First Inter-Party Government would be left with the responsibility of implementing the scheme.

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