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

There is a breakdown of age which I do not have to hand but I will communicate it to the Deputy. It spans a wide range. There are people at the edge of the range who are elderly, as the Deputy mentioned. We recognise that many of those eligible were children when they were formerly resident. There are also a number of people who are middle aged.

In terms of the process, we are working in advance of the passage of the Bill to create an executive office within my Department that will oversee the entire process. We are working to make sure that the application process is as simple as possible, with a simple, single application form irrespective of whether an individual is seeking a payment or advanced medical card or both. In the case of someone who was in a mother and baby or a county institution covered by the Institutional Burials Bill, the executive office will access the records to see if there is evidence that they were in place.

The burden of work, therefore, will be placed on the executive office rather than on individual survivors. We are very conscious of making this simple and swift.

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