Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Diúltaíodh suas le 12,000 saoránach den Stát seo, go leor acu faoi mhíchumas trom, ó thaobh an liúntais a bhí i dteideal dóibh mar gheall ar an míchumas a bhí orthu. Diúltaíodh é seo dóibh mar thoradh ar straitéis a bhí fuar, straitéis chalma, straitéis gan croí, a forbraíodh i gcroílár an Rialtais - Rialtas ina raibh Tánaiste féin mar pháirt agus mar bhall sinsearach. Up to 12,000 citizens of this State, many of them with profound disabilities, were denied their entitlement to a modest allowance paid to them in recognition of their disability. They were denied this as a result of a cold, callous and heartless strategy developed at the heart of government. This was a Cabinet of which the Tánaiste was a senior member as Minister for Foreign Affairs at the time. The decisions the Government took at the time are laid bare for all of us to see in secret documents that have been reported on. The Tánaiste was party to the strategy. He was party to agreeing the strategy as a senior member of the Government and Cabinet at that time.

We now know that in July 2009 the Tánaiste and his Government colleagues were presented with a memo from the Minister for Health and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs. It made it clear the State was unlikely to defend cases by or on behalf of those who had their disability payments illegally withdrawn from them. The memo they were presented with went on to state that a comprehensive trawl could be done of HSE records over the 30 years to determine the level of exposure to the State but the Minister advised the Tánaiste and his colleagues against doing this as it would be unlikely to escape media attention or speculation and could generate further claims that otherwise would not have been made.

The strategy of the Government was to conceal the fact there was no legal basis to denying these payments to persons with disabilities and to do nothing that would give rise to awareness to these individuals of their legal entitlements to a modest allowance in recognition of their disability. The strategy was deliberate, it was calculated and it was developed at a Cabinet of which the Tánaiste was a member to conceal from some of the most vulnerable citizens, namely those with disabilities in the care of the State, their legal entitlements. The following year, in 2010, again while he was a member of the Cabinet, he and his Cabinet colleagues were asked to agree to continue with the strategy. At that time he knew this denial of payments was unlawful and, again, he acceded to this. He was party to the decision and the Government agreed to it. The Tánaiste knew the right thing to do. How do we know this? We can see it in the memo. It is contained there. It was to establish a repayment scheme to right the wrong that was done but the Tánaiste and the Government decided against it. Not only that, they decided to do everything possible to ensure those entitled to these payments would never find out about their entitlements.

It is very hurtful for so many families to find that Government after Government knew these payments were being withheld unlawfully and that a deliberate and cold-hearted strategy was developed at the heart of Government. Will the Tánaiste explain to the House and, most importantly, to those families why he was part of this? Knowing that the legal advice he got in the memo in 2009 was that these cases could not be defended, how does he justify continuing to deny these payments to the individuals and deciding to do nothing that would raise awareness, either in the media or among the wider public, that would alert people to their legal entitlements? Please explain that to all of us.

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