Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will respond to Deputy Buckley's question. As he knows, we announced a scheme to provide financial payments to 34,000 former residents and enhanced medical cards to 19,000 former residents at an overall cost of €800 million. I am acutely conscious of the importance of getting these payments and the enhanced medical cards to survivors, many of whom are elderly. Because the scheme is so large, it requires legislation. I will work as hard as I can with members of the Opposition to get the legislation passed as quickly as possible. I also must be realistic. I believe it will be the latter part of next year by the time the scheme is up and running, but I will do everything I can to get this done as quickly as possible. Once the applications open, we will prioritise applications from the most elderly and vulnerable survivors.

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