Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I shall be brief as there is a good crew of Members who wish to comment. The Ombudsman found that the upper age limit was illegal and not in compliance with equality law and, at this stage, we have heard from both the Minister and Minister of State.

What steps will the Minister of State take at this stage? She has said she cannot take the steps the Ombudsman has said require to be taken yet there is no plan laid out for bringing the existing allowances into line with the Equal Status Act because in both contributions mention was made of €10.6 million, with €9 million for the mobility allowance of which there are 4,700 recipients. How many people would receive the mobility allowance if the change required by the Ombudsman was made to reflect the Equal Status Act? There is a restrictive qualifying criteria on this one in particular because according to the Minister the person must be unable to walk or be in such a condition that the exertion required to walk would be dangerous to their health. That suggests that not everybody on a contributory or a non-contributory pension would qualify for it. It is much more limited in terms of the criteria. The Minister mentioned that a figure of €200 million would be required. That suggests over 100,000 people would qualify for it, which is a very high figure.