Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There was no apology or no admission that the Tánaiste was wrong. Yesterday the Taoiseach stood where the Tánaiste is and said the State did not have a leg to stand on. He said that because we have the memos. In 2009, the Tánaiste was given legal advice as a member of the Cabinet that said the State would be extremely unlikely to be able to defend the case. We have other memos that state the regulations were without legal foundation. They were unlawful. Let us cut to the chase. These individuals were unlawfully denied their payments by the State. That is crystal clear now. The Tánaiste was a member of the Cabinet that agreed to this strategy. He was asked in 2010 as a member of Cabinet to continue to agree to the strategy of the HSE denying all claims for back payments, despite the fact he knew they were unlawful at the time.

He should not try to fob it on the State Claims agency or allocations of resources. This involves people who, in some cases, have profound disabilities who were in the care of the State. They expect their Government to stand up for them and advocate for them. The Government preyed on their vulnerability and stated it would not set up a repayment scheme unless the floodgates opened and more claims came forward. How does the Tánaiste justify this? Does he accept he was informed in 2009 and 2010 on these matters? How does he justify, knowing that it was unlawful, continuing to deny these individuals their payments and not taking any action even to identify the exposure of the State in case these vulnerable citizens became aware of their legal entitlement?

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