Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I have indicated that a Cabinet sub-committee is looking at this matter and we certainly cannot proceed with the scheme until we have the Travers report. As soon as we can after that we will make clear the Government's intentions in this respect. We want to do things as quickly as possible, but this is a mammoth task involving more than 200,000 people — perhaps as many as 300,000 — so the logistical issues as to how this might be handled must also be examined. We have indicated that we want a scheme which will be as simple as possible for those affected to access what they are entitled to, and the Government is approaching the matter with that in mind.

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