The Department of Children had asked religious orders to pay €267 million towards the scheme.

Another group offered to make a charitable donation outside the scheme while five made no offer.

The Government was urged to ‘flex some legal muscle’.

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland said they are seeking paperwork and letters relating to the former institutions.

More than 14,000 women and teenage girls ed through mother and baby homes, Magdalen institutions and workhouses.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill officially announced the opening of a public consultation.

A stipulation that mothers or babies must have spent at least six months in a home to qualify has been described as ‘cruel’ by Sinn Féin.

Leo Varadkar was challenged about the exclusion of survivors who had been at an institution for less than six months from a compensation scheme.

Labour TD Sean Sherlock said the 180-day minimum was ‘prescriptive’.

Roderic O’Gorman raised concerns about the precedence it would set if the Government were to reject the findings of a Commission of Investigation.

Police are investigating allegations of abuse at the institutions across Northern Ireland.

The Cabinet approved a proposal on Wednesday to establish an independent office to oversee the exhumation of infant remains