Mr. Jimmy Martin:

No, it is a matter for Government to decide. In our view, it would be extending the scheme. The Ombudsman has said it should apply to people who were in other institutions who worked in the laundry. The existing scheme works on the basis that it does not matter if one worked in the laundry or not; it worked on the basis that one had been admitted to a Magdalen institution and it is assumed one worked. One did not have to have worked in the laundry, it could have been any kind of work. The Ombudsman's clarification suggests that if one went to an industrial school on the same site but did not work in the laundry, one would not be covered. We have to see whether it is administratively possible to distinguish between people who worked in the laundry and did not work in the laundry and whether there are any records to that effect. Then the Government will have to decide if it will apply to everybody or to limit it just to people who worked in the laundry.