Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Taoiseach's compassionate response to this matter. If it is self-evident that this is the correct decision within minutes of anyone hearing about it, how is it that it was not self-evident to the people to whom we give statutory authority to make those decisions? There has to be a change to a culture that does not take out the measuring tape and say that a couple who have been together for 63 years can be separated because they do not fit into a particular matrix that has been set out.

The Taoiseach should indicate how the Government will bring about that cultural shift to ensure that people within the system apply the compassion he himself has now applied to this case without having such cases brought into the attention of the national media. It is self-evident that not every individual case will be afforded the attention given to this case but every single case deserves the same degree of attention and compassion.

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