Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister’s comments on amendments Nos. 24 and 25 and I agree with much of what Deputy Sherlock said.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I do not see how you can exclude people. No matter what happens with this scheme and even if there are reviews and there are some positive changes, if you are excluding anybody, you are already on the back foot, starting from a wrong place, creating division and creating even more frustration and distrust with a group of people who have been let down their whole entire lives by this State. I strongly advocate for amendment No. 1 to be accepted in order that we can at least have that review and perhaps look at inclusion. I feel strongly that we should not be excluding anybody from the payment scheme.