I disagree with the Deputy's narrative and assertion in terms of the past 30 years and the 30 years before that. If we go back over the past 25 years, right through it, there were quite a significant number of redress schemes. One of my first decisions was to launch the very first investigation into the role of church and State in the industrial schools. This was the first time it was ever done and we had a very extensive redress scheme in the aftermath of the commission on institutional abuse in our industrial schools. I think at the time I raised more than €1 billion in redress payments. I was the first to do the investigation into the Ferns diocese and, subsequently, other Ministers did the Dublin archdiocese commission of investigation, the Cloyne report. The point is that the past 25 to 30 years has been about revelations about the 20th century in Ireland and, in many instances, significant redress schemes initiated. That is the reality. I have only just said earlier that in the past two and a half years alone, the Government has decided to commit itself to retrospective payments on a range of issues totalling close to €6 billion. I am not counting all the various redress schemes over the past ten or 20 years.

The fundamental issue with nursing home charges and the disability allowance was actually that the policy was transparent for well over 30 years. It was very transparent in that contributions were taken in full sight from people in residential settings, from their pensions and so on. It transpired that the regulations that gave effect to that were not consistent with the primary Act in respect of public nursing home charges. That is what the 2005 Supreme Court decision conclusively decided on public health charges. A redress scheme of close to €500 million was initiated and paid back. In terms of the medical card patients in private nursing homes, it was never accepted by the Oireachtas or the Government that they were entitled to the entirely of payments in respect of the cost of private nursing homes. Subventions at that stage were the order of the day. In fact, the fair deal scheme, which ultimately dealt with the issue in terms of a legislative template, to this day continues the principle of people making a contribution to both public and private healthcare. The same applies in Northern Ireland in respect of disability allowance. As I have said, right now there are 30 sensitive cases that the Government will be alerted to, all of them with significant cost implications for the State. The ultimate challenge is, which we have to make a call on - every Government will in its day - whether the current generation keeps on paying for historic wrongs or whether we concentrate and focus on the needs, which are very real today, right across the board in social services and social work.

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