Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I am acutely aware of the sense of urgency surrounding the establishment of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme and I am focused on opening it within this quarter.

The underpinning legislation for the Scheme - the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023 – was signed into law last July. This Act allows for the establishment of an Executive Office in my Department to oversee the Scheme and the appointment of the Chief Deciding Officer to head up that office, as well as the staff needed to support the performance of his or her functions.

Staffing the Scheme appropriately to ensure quality service and efficient processing of applications was a key objective for me. Following careful consideration of a number of important factors, including the need to open the Scheme as soon as possible and the ability to be responsive and scale up and down to meet Scheme demand, a blended operating model has been developed. This provides for the Chief Deciding Officer to be supported by a core Executive Office based in my Department and also by experienced third party support, appointed after a procurement process. All staff in the Executive Office, as well as the third party support team, will operate under the direction and supervision of the Chief Deciding Officer and a comprehensive training programme for all staff involved in Scheme administration is being delivered at present.

This blended approach will facilitate efficiencies in application processing and payments, with of the order of 90 staff involved in the Scheme at the outset, scalable as necessary depending on applicant numbers at any given time. It is envisaged that the majority of applications will be straightforward insofar as records will be available for verification purposes. In addition, conscious that many potential applicants to the Scheme are very elderly, I made provision in the underpinning legislation for the Scheme that priority may be given to an application depending on the applicant’s circumstances, including their age and their health, and it is the case that the oldest applicants will be prioritised.

In terms of the enhanced medical cards, the Payment Scheme Executive Office will notify the HSE if an applicant is eligible for the card and the HSE will provide it to the applicant. I cannot comment on the pressures to which the Deputy refers.