Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

That will wash out of the system quickly. It is a new programme with new processes in place and there have been delays because of the sheer volume of applications. It is unfortunate but the officials in the Department are dealing with the matter as quickly as possible. The Deputy correctly indicated the allowance is backdated.

We need a focus but the timeframe is not the be all and end all of everything. The quality of the focus and what we achieve as we come out the other end is important. We should commence the process and, more importantly, complete it to see where we go from there.

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