Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is most regrettable that this issue has not been resolved. Clearly, the Department is in contravention of its obligations under the law. This is a useful exercise because this is the first occasion on which the Department has accepted that there is a breach. I welcome the fact that the Minister, Deputy Reilly, said he had no dispute with the Ombudsman on the principle of the issue. The question is how the Department becomes compliant. I accept the bona fides of the Minister and Minister of State. I put it to the Minister of State that it would appear that the most viable option is to introduce a scheme that would change and limit the eligibility criteria on the basis of the Government pleading inability to pay which, in the circumstances, is not an option that any Oireachtas committee could accept as being reasonable in the circumstances. We are looking at a change in eligibility down the line. We take it that the Department of Health acknowledges that the Ombudsman is right in what she has said. As recently as last October, in a letter to the Ombudsman the Secretary General rejected what the Ombudsman has said. Are we now agreed that what the Ombudsman said in her report is correct, that the Department does not have an issue with that and is accepting the illegality and we look to a new framework with eligibility conditions contained therein. If that is the case what is the timeframe on the part of the Government?