Mr. Jimmy Martin:

There are. Once a person is in the scheme, there is an upfront cash payment. There are ongoing payments in the form of a contributory pension. There is entitlement to health benefits as if the person had a medical card and certain other things. These people would be missing out on all those aspects. We hoped that the early implementation of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 would make it easier but the latest word we have is that it probably will not start until 2018.

I think we are down to 19 people. We are exploring with the homes they are in whether it would be suitable for them to be made wards of court. This would allow the payments to be made and would give them those health entitlements.