Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the point the Minister makes about the 180 days. I may have misinterpreted that initially so I take that point. Speaking to the amendment, however, the question is merely whether the 180 days' residence requirement provided for should be amended or repealed. First, I hold to the view that a report into that is still a reasonable ask. Second is the question as to whether the requirement imposed on applicants by section 27(3) should be removed. The logic of where I am coming from here is that if somebody was resident in a relevant institution for up to and including 89 days, the general payment is €5,000. That is according to Schedule 3. The total amount, therefore, is €5,000. The Minister's subsection (3) states that if one receives a payment of €5,000, one "shall not [and I stress "shall not"] institute civil proceedings, and shall discontinue any other proceedings instituted by or on behalf of the applicant". My worry about that is that there is the compensation, which in these instances is small, but there is also the issue of the seeking of justice, whereby a person will seek to have recourse to the courts. I just wonder what the legal basis of signing a waiver will be to that end. By dint of this legislation, I cannot help but feel that the Minister is restricting people from being able to seek recourse to the courts in seeking to have justice applied to themselves, which is a fundamental right that people have. Is the Minister taking that right away from them if they sign this waiver stating they have received their €5,000 and can no longer institute or take any further proceedings? I am not a lawyer. I would defer to legal experts on this one. Is the Minister entitled to do that? Obviously, he feels he is because, otherwise, he would not legislate for it, but what is the legal strength of such a waiver? How is it to be written? Is it a contract? Is it a pro formaform that will be handled by an administrator within the Department? How does the Minister envisage that this would be dealt with?

Finally, and I thank you for your latitude, Chair, that is why I sought to have a report into how this will operate. If a hundred people come forward, for the sake of argument, at €5,000 per person, some of those people may feel that they would like recourse to the courts on this and that, while they have signed a waiver, they still have a right to go to the courts. I do not think we should disbar those people from going to the courts. That is where I am coming from.