Ms Grainne Duffy:

The Department of Health was concerned about the equity of the schemes for many years. In fact, during the mid-2000s the Department was in negotiation to see if there was a way in which the upper age limit could be removed. However, that would have required additional funding, as we have already outlined, and did not prove possible. In the context of a general review of schemes that were under the auspices of the Department, the issue was parked while a range of other issues about these schemes were being examined. That then led to a decision by the Government that the schemes should transfer to another Department, namely, the Department of Social Protection. Since then, the domiciliary care allowance, for example, has also transferred to that Department. After that, the Ombudsman was examining individual cases and came to the Department with concerns. It was at that point that the Department started to consider the real legalities of the issue. Legal advice was sought and real efforts were made to find a way to address the legalities. This has been a pattern over a number of years. The Department has made efforts to address, in particular, the age limit, for a long number of years on the basis of equity. It is not something that we have ignored, in any shape or form. We have been trying to resolve this for a long time. It just has not proven possible, particularly in the context of the financial constraints under which we currently operate.