Mr. Fintan Butler:

One of the recommendations from the Ombudsman was that the HSE in Donegal review all cases decided since 2009 in which people had been refused on the basis of a narrow understanding of what constituted severe disability. The HSE is conducting that review on the basis that it will apply a broader understanding of what constitutes severe disability. I do not know the exact number of cases but I imagine it is 30 or 40 or that kind of number. It is certainly more than nine or ten cases. The fact that it is doing the review in light of the Ombudsman's recommendation about taking a broader understanding of disability does appear to be in conflict with the position being adopted by the Department. The scheme is a departmental scheme, so the HSE is in a bind in that it can really only do what the Department says it should do, yet it has agreed to do something that the Department states it will not do. There is a certain level of confusion.