Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State has a clear understanding, as I have, of the regulations as they apply. They should be applied in a humane manner to take account of situations that may arise out of the ordinary run-of-the-mill circumstances. The HSE has to take account of a situation that may affect a family who are traumatised enough by virtue of the challenges facing them. If a person is seriously ill, the last thing he or she wants to be told is that this is the end. Who wants to tell somebody that, for God's sake? The therapy to be engaged at that stage is the kind of therapy the Minister of State has talked about and that we all know about from years of dealing with the situation.

I know the way the system is supposed to work. The Minister of State is absolutely right. I will leave the matter in her capable hands and we will talk about it at a later stage. The Minister of State knows what the story is. There is a problem in that particular section and I do not know what it is. I spent three days last summer trying to track down an individual responsible for a payment that was absolutely necessary and vital. I could not understand how it could take three days. It was not because I did not know where the various lines of communication were because I did. It took all of those three days, and that was in the summer when the days were long. It would be beneficial to the good name of the HSE, and bearing in mind the goodwill it has shown in many other cases, to look at these cases in the particular way to which the Minister of State has just referred.

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