Helen Culpan said she was a little disappointed with the amount of money being offered, but conceded she simply did not have time to wait much longer for a different resolution.
Ms Culpan broke her silence in August in an interview with the Irish Examiner and described the horror she faced in her home village of Castledermot, Co Kildare, when she discovered she was pregnant after being raped for years by a farmer.
Ms Culpan received widespread praise and support from the public after telling her story for the first time.
She is one of more than 50,000 survivors who went through the mother and baby homes and a redress scheme rolled out earlier this year has been criticised for delays to elderly survivors.
However, Ms Culpan said the matter had finally concluded and she is now awaiting her payment.
“I have agreed to €17,500,” she said.
I got the offer last Wednesday. I am a bit disappointed, but I am too old to wait any longer. That is a lot of money for someone of my age and I have many health issues. I don’t have time to not take it.
Ms Culpan, who now lives in Carlow town, said she was overwhelmed by the response to her story when it was first published in the Irish Examiner.
She described how from the age of 10, she was raped by a local farmer who gave free milk to her family, who were poor.
Her father had abandoned the family, leaving her mother to rear 15 children.
When her mother took her to the gardaí to report the rape after Helen became pregnant at 17, they sent her to the local priest, who abused her mother instead of supporting her.
The priest called me a tramp. He roared at my mother ‘get her out of here’ and before I left, he pulled up my skirt to see if I had any knickers on, the rotten man he was.
Ms Culpan was later sent to Dublin, where she gave birth to her son at St Patrick’s mother and baby home. Her child was taken away and Ms Culpan had no more children.
Despite promising the elderly would be given priority in the redress scheme, Ms Culpan had to wait until last week to finalise her compensation.
“I have accepted the offer,” she said. “It doesn’t make up for what happened to the women and children like me, but my age is against me, and that’s why I have accepted it. It’s not great, but it will have to do.”
While the scheme was welcomed when it was formally launched, campaigners have criticised the pace at which compensation has been issued.
The Irish Examiner previously reported that Philomena Lee, whose efforts to trace her adopted son were chronicled in the Oscar-nominated film Philomena, had endured "significant difficulties" in accessing redress.
Campaigners also criticised some of the restrictions imposed, meaning many survivors have been excluded on the basis of spending less than six months in institutions.