Mr. Niall Redmond:

I do not want to outline a litany of excuses. The Bill is complex. We cannot look at the issue in isolation. We have to look at the whole picture of the scheme, where we are going, ageing, the budget for the fair deal scheme in the future and all the legal complications. Without having to cast our minds back to the situation that existed prior to the introduction of this scheme, with the old subvention scheme, part of the reason for the fair deal scheme being introduced and for that pseudonym being given to it was to try to correct some of the issues that existed previously, particularly with inequity in the scheme.

This can get very complex but one of the issues we have had to look at very closely is the constitutional element around equity, equal treatment and policy objectives or intents behind change in the level of treatment. Treatment may no longer be necessarily equal but it would still be fair. We have had to look very carefully at all those issues.

I do not want to bring up too much but, unfortunately, when we were in the depths of some of the very close engagement with our legal people in the Department and officials in the Attorney General's office, there were issues around the legal response to Brexit and all of that. It did not help, in truth, and we lost a bit of time with it. I do not want to put that up as a primary reason for this taking so long. It is just very complex and we are trying to work our way through the issues as best and as quickly as we can. We also have a duty to ensure that what we bring forward does not undermine or break the scheme in future or create difficulty for the people who need to access it.