Ms Emily O'Reilly:

We deal with issues on a case-by-case basis. To some degree, tough political decision making is clashing with bureaucracy. Money is being saved. As the Ombudsman, I do not have an opinion on policy. If a Department decides to abolish a scheme or benefit for whatever reason, that is its decision. I deal with how the Department goes about it.

Let us take an example of someone who used to be in receipt of domiciliary care allowance in respect of a child with autism but who no longer receives it. The child has not necessarily improved or worsened, but the scheme has been tightened. We were finding that, in schemes where there was an element of subjectivity or discretion, one doctor might say "Yes" while another might say "Maybe not". In the Celtic tiger years, the discretion went one way. Now that there is a recession, it is going the other way. Any Minister can truthfully claim that nothing has changed, the scheme is the scheme and the rules are the rules, but it does not feel that way to people because the discretion has changed.

I have been trying to get the message across at meetings such as this and through our annual report. We are in the process of drafting a new set of principles of good administration and complaint handling. Sometimes people believe this is like motherhood and apple pie, but we have found these sets of principles useful when it comes to letting public bodies know how they should treat people and deal with the schemes under their remit. When we publish the principles, I hope that the committee and the Departments of the Taoiseach and Public Expenditure and Reform will buy into them so that the message can go out that this is the way matters should be handled.

No one likes to impart bad news. What tends to happen is that people are not being straight about cuts. People can cope with cuts to a degree, but it is difficult to cope with not knowing whether they are entitled or why they are no longer receiving payments despite having had an entitlement six months previously and nothing having changed in the meantime. Some people received grants to buy cars because they had disabilities, etc. We have noticed that, whereas the granting used to be flathulach, that is no longer the case. I am not sure what the Irish word for "mean" is.