Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When a strategy comes to life years later, the new Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael Minister usually throws his or her predecessors under the bus, laments the historical practices and tells us that lessons have been learned. Not in this case, though. In this case, current members of the Government are implicated: the Tánaiste; the Taoiseach; the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris; and the Minister without Portfolio, Deputy McEntee. Right across the current Cabinet are politicians who had a responsibility to care for and protect the most vulnerable in society but who instead implemented and stood over a cruel and callous strategy aimed at denying our elderly and citizens with disabilities what they were rightfully owed. Now we have the scandalous scenario of the Ministers, Deputies Stephen Donnelly and Humphreys, doubling down in defence of the indefensible instead of rowing back on a despicable policy.

What does this indefensible Government strategy amount to? In one stark example, we learned from the secret 2011 Government memo that residents of long-term disability homes were told by the Government that they were not eligible for the long-stay repayment scheme. Regardless, some applied for it and were swiftly denied. Most did not appeal because the HSE and the Government told them they would be unsuccessful. However, appeals were made on behalf of 515 such residents. Those appeals were successful. Eventually, the Government decided not to pursue a High Court case. The appeals officer had determined that those residents qualified for the scheme. The secret Government memo acknowledged that there had been no legal basis for them to be charged. Every single resident of such a facility was entitled to a refund, but the Government quietly refunded just the 515 who had appealed. It did not refund those who had applied but had not appealed or those who had not applied because they had been told they would not be successful. Since 2011 at the latest, every Taoiseach and Minister for Health has known that there are thousands of citizens with profound disabilities - the most vulnerable of all our citizens - who are owed money by the State and has hidden that fact from them and their advocates. Shame on each of those taoisigh and Ministers. Shame on the Ministers who came to the House today to stand over such actions. According to the Secretary General of the Department of Health, it appears that no one in government has ever even sought clarification as to how many of these residents are owed money, let alone made any effort to redress them.

Unfortunately, the Government does not pay its debts when it comes to our elderly and citizens with disabilities, who have been let down for too long. We in Sinn Féin will not let this matter drop until the principles of justice and fairness are at the heart of how the Government responds to this issue and the money taken from citizens with disabilities who were residents of so-called section 38 and 39 homes and are entitled to full refunds is rightfully handed back to them.

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