Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

Amendments Nos. 21, 22 and 29 relate to the application for State support and the financial assessment of means. They propose to qualify requests for information by the HSE by stating that such requests should be reasonable. While I accept the good intention of the Deputy that underlies these amendments, all information requested by the application form for the scheme or during the course of the financial assessment will be necessary for the purposes of the scheme. Furthermore, the Parliamentary Counsel has cautioned against accepting this amendment as the term could be legally ambiguous and could undermine the authority of the HSE to request necessary information. Accordingly, I do not propose to accept amendments Nos. 21, 22 and 29.

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