Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this important matter and to share time with my colleague, Deputy Hannigan. Our colleague Deputy Gerald Nash, who is unable to speak this afternoon, has long advocated with me and Deputy Hannigan on behalf of the women excluded from the Lourdes Hospital redress scheme. I am very grateful to the Minister, Deputy Reilly, for attending in person to deal with this important issue. We share a constituency in which people are affected by the issue I raise.

There is a commitment in An Agreed Programme for Government to seek a mechanism to compensate those women who were excluded on age grounds alone from the Lourdes Hospital redress scheme. Over the past 18 months, this matter has been raised by way of Topical Issue debate, the Order of Business and numerous parliamentary questions. Despite all this pressure, we have seen absolutely no progress towards a resolution for the affected women. Responses received by all public representatives have been very similar and give no comfort to the women. In May of this year, following my raising of the matter with the Taoiseach on the Order of Business, I received a letter from the Minister's office stating a review is ongoing to identify a mechanism to compensate the women, and that the review included instructions and legal advice from the Attorney General. The letter also stated it is the Minister's intention to bring a proposal to the Government on this matter before the summer recess. Given that we are so close to that recess now, can the Minister give us concrete information today on proposals for the women? The delay thus far has been inexcusable. I implore the Minister not to allow the delay go any further.

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