Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is not about having someone to take a look at the scheme. We know the difficulties with the scheme. What we are doing is inviting someone in to draw up a new scheme. There are options, some of which we do not want to take. We could find a solution in the morning but we want a compassionate solution and one that works. That is the reason we are inviting somebody in to draw up a new scheme in consultation with people with disabilities. The issue has been around for a considerable period. This is not the first time we have looked at it and we have arrived at solutions but unfortunately they were flawed and, when examined, we realised they would not comply. The difficulty is that under the budget constraints, we are all restrained by budgets in the circumstances in which the country finds itself, we have to find a way of ensuring that the people who most need the service are protected. I do not know anybody in the room who would disagree with that. Nobody is saying the Ombudsman's report is incorrect, we know it is right. The difficulty is how to find a mechanism to comply with it.