Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. McLoughlin and his officials for coming before the committee again. I wish to put on record the horror that we experienced when we listened to the testimony of the Ombudsman and the presentations by the Minister, Ministers of State and the Department. The vista that was before us was an appalling one. We were operating a scheme that was clearly contrary to the Equal Status Act. It seemed almost Monty Pythonesque that a scheme which was giving such a valuable resource to those who needed it most was in contravention of the Equal Status Act. At the time I pointed out that while everyone in this room is equal under the law, clearly we are not all the same. People have different needs and demands and some need additional resources in order to be able to do the day-to-day things that most of us take for granted. The scheme, while not perfect, worked reasonably well in practice. Had it been perfect, it would not have been brought to the attention of the Ombudsman's office in the first place. Something that was reasonable in practice and which, to paraphrase-----