Mr. Fintan Butler:

These are non-statutory schemes, which means there is no law behind them. There is always the option of seeking a judicial review, but that would not be very practical. With the passing of the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act 2012, the Ombudsman has the capacity to refer a case on a point of law to the High Court. That option was not available when these cases were being dealt with, but I am not sure whether we could have identified a point of law arising from two administrative schemes.