Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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In terms of Government and the private individual, I always take the view that I am spending his or her money and they are spending their own money. That is a clear distinction. In terms of anyone taking a case for which we have had to compensate them, we have not. The Department of Health does not have a laissez-faire attitude towards the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman's findings are correct; no one is disputing them. If the Deputy were to take a serious look at what the Ombudsman has concluded, we should be expanding the scheme but the difficulty with expanding it is that we cannot afford it for reasons that are out of our control at this time. The Department does not have a laissez-faire attitude but we must take a practical view of this while seeking to protect those we know rely on these payments.