Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

That might come into play. That is one element of the answer to the point made by Deputy Sheahan. Second, apart from the closing date that was not met by the applicant in question, it is difficult to speculate what judgments will be made regarding other applicants who might not have met other conditions of the scheme. It is impossible to know how many there were. It is also important to bear in mind that no money was paid to anybody, nor was any tradeable asset made available to anybody under the terms of the scheme. If money were to be paid arising from this it appears it would be in accordance with the decommissioning scheme which is entirely separate and has nothing whatsoever to do with this scheme. In the circumstances, while one would have enormous sympathy for the family concerned and would obviously wish to be in a position to provide some recompense, there would have to be no doubt that the motivation in setting up the scheme was along those lines. The fact is that unless one knew what conditions might be set aside in any judgment it would be impossible to predict what the cost might be.

See this speech in context