Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)

I am amazed that we are discussing a Bill that will allow the HSE to seize the homes of elderly people and sell them if their income is €5 above the old age pension. That is the thrust of this Bill. To compound matters we are dealing with the appeals system that might be available. The principle of the independence of an appeal or a judicial decision is enshrined in many pieces of legislation. If the Minister were bothered he could see that everybody agrees we made a serious mistake on this matter when we established the Garda Síochána Complaints Board, which allowed the Garda to examine complaints against itself. This was ineffective and unacceptable, and fell into disuse arising from the fact that it was not independent. At last the Government is doing something about that, and it will have to do something about this. This type of legislation whereby somebody who is the cause of a grievance will have a peer from his or her own organisation dealing with the grievance will not give any sense of fairness. Even if the appeal officer came to a correct decision and the complainant had no case in the appeal, there would still be a grievance due to the perception that an appeal officer from the organisation that made the original decision could not be objective or fair. If the Minister of State does not have the authority to do this, he should refer it to his senior Minister and introduce an amendment similar to this one on Report Stage.

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