Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Estimate is approximately €850 million which will be paid out over a number of years. There is no question of fraud in the judgment of the Supreme Court, which I am sure Deputy Kenny read. Although there are several categories for which this arises, the six-year rule will not generally apply for persons of unsound mind because they were not in a position to deal with this situation. We have endeavoured to deal with the matter as carefully as we can but this does not protect from the possibility of people taking cases or actions under some particular area.

We have followed the Supreme Court judgment and the Attorney General's advice. I said some weeks ago I was not certain whether legislation would be required for certain categories of patients. The advice is that there are several categories to which payment could be made without legislation. However, to cover all the categories that have come to light — Deputies will see today it is quite a detailed and extensive list — these particular categories must be covered by legislation. We have been advised that primary legislation is the best way of dealing with this.

The Government has set out to ensure the process is facilitative for the public rather than adversarial and that it is one where speed and due process are important. We already have the ex gratia scheme which will be taken into account. The scheme will be announced today and the legislation will be prepared. If it is deemed to be the best approach to deal with the issue effectively, we will tender for a claims agency. There are many such agencies in Europe and the United States which have dealt effectively with similar issues. It will take some considerable time. I emphasise that we are talking about public patients in the various institutions. The scheme does not cover the categories of private patients in other institutions.

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