Mr. Stephen Teap:

I will take that. In May of this year, we asked the Minister for Health to replicate the supports that were in place for the 221+ group for those who were going to be impacted by RCOG and, thankfully, that was done. So anything that was available to the original cohort of people is also available for those who have been added on as a result of RCOG except the ex gratia payment of €2,000 that was recommended by Dr. Gabriel Scally in June of last year. Over two weeks ago we wrote to the Minister for Health. Bar reading a couple of headlines there still has been no confirmation on this.

What triggered the discovery that the ex gratiawas not being paid is that somebody contacted the support group who, due to having cancer, had to finish up work on sick leave and it was going to take three or four weeks to process illness payment. I do not need to go into detail on the financial impact of cancer on the individuals and families affected because the Irish Cancer Society recently compiled a fantastic report that highlighted the real cost of cancer. What was apparent when it was highlighted to us that the ex gratiapayment was not included in the supports, even though the Minister for Health did say he would essentially copy and paste the supports, was when last Wednesday, I think, the Taoiseach said he supported it being paid. I raised the matter with the steering committee on Thursday but it was not in a position to commit to it and we still have no confirmation of that. The ex gratiapayment is the only support that is not available and everything else is like for like.

A fantastic team of liaison officers around the country are contacting the women and families who are affected, as the report highlighted. I am not too sure about the status of that. I do not know whether everybody has been contacted or whether some people may be waiting to be contacted. All of the supports that are available to us are available to the RCOG group and the people implicated by that, except for the ex gratiapayment.