Mr. Noel Dowling:

To date, 691 awards have been made totalling €25.9 million while 106 applications have been refused. The figure relating to women who lack capacity has varied over time. In some cases, the medical certification has changed to the effect that they have capacity or else they have been made wards of court. As things stand, there are 15 cases in which the women concerned lack capacity. This brings me to the developments in relation to the Magdalen scheme. The Ombudsman issued a report last November which was critical in some respects of the operation of the scheme. He made a number of recommendations, two of which are being dealt with by a recently appointed senior counsel, Ms Mary O'Toole SC. She is looking at how best to address the issue of the 15 women who lack capacity. She is also looking at cases where the assessed duration of stay was lower than that originally claimed by an applicant with the result that the award was reduced. There are approximately 220 such cases.