Mr. Jimmy Martin:

Yes, but I do not know where that came from. In the case of all schemes, as we are required to do, we did an estimate of how much the scheme would cost. When it went to Government it was estimated that if there were 555 successful applicants the lump sum element would cost €32 million and if there were 1,000 successful applicants the lump sum would cost in the region of €58 million. That was a rough estimate, so it depended on the number of applicants but there was no decision other than that.

On top of that it was reckoned that it would cost an extra €1.7 million in weekly payments, because if one gets more than €100,000, part of that is paid in weekly payments and then there is the medical card element. The Department of Health reckoned it would cost perhaps €3 million a year. The sum of €1.7 million per annum also includes Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection moneys that are paid out. There is an ongoing cost. There was never a definite cost. The Government was given a range of estimates for the lump sum and then an indication for how much it would cost per annum after that, and that would be an indefinite figure so it was not possible to collect. There is no set figure.

The Department of Justice and Equality does not have any financial interest in restricting the scheme. The money comes from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform into a special subhead and whoever applies gets whatever they get and that is it. It does not affect the rest of the budget of the Department.