Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

This is a moral and political issue, namely, whether we provide for our elderly and pay what people are owed or drag them through prolonged legal battles to cut costs. The fact remains that thousands of people who were entitled to State care were denied it. This was covered up, and when it came out successive Governments, led by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Green Party and the Labour Party, did everything possible to make sure those people got nothing back.

The Attorney General's report may be a useful political tool to hide behind, but it does not take away from the facts. The Government did not break the law; rather, it fought tooth and nail to stop redress for thousands of people who were saddled with massive costs they should never have had to pay.

The Taoiseach spoke with a forked tongue in the Dáil yesterday about how it takes two sides to agree to settle in an attempt to portray this as a level playing field. We know that is not the case. We know from the documents released by Shane Corr that the State was looking for a strong test case it could win in court in order to try to put all of this to bed.

The State's legal team waited up to the point of disclosure and weighed up the case before offering an out-of-court settlement. It knew exactly what it was doing. How could ordinary people feel they could face up to a State legal power when faced with strategies like this? How many mother and baby home survivors, people who suffered abuse in church or State care, people denied care in their old age, those with a disability or autistic children fighting for school places and assessments of needs have faced the same tactics?

I have a letter from Age Action which rightly calls for the release of all similar policies currently in use by the Government. In one week we have learned about a secret legal strategy regarding nursing homes and another regarding disability payments. How many more are there?

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