Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Normally, a claim for a back payment goes back six months, with the possibility to go back further in exceptional circumstances. If an announcement were to be made tomorrow, we would be talking peanuts, as I said. It is the maddest thing I have ever heard that we would not go back in this case. If we are going back for one, we should go back for all. Does Ms Lucey agree this could be challenged? It seems odd that people were meant to have applied for something that did not exist. People could not get an application form and, as Ms Lucey said, they were rejected if they did apply. In some cases, people did not bother applying because they read on the form that applicants had to be married.