Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. He has asked me a lot of questions and I will have to come back with some of the answers because this is quite technical. My officials are doing a lot of work to cover some of the particular issues the Deputy has raised. This is complex enough, and want to make sure we get it right.

The Deputy said there are about 150,000 cohabiting couples. I asked my officials how many people they think will be entitled to the payment and they advised me that it is very difficult to predict the number of people who may have an entitlement under the scheme as there is limited data on these couples. The Deputy has provided one figure, but the analysis carried out by my Department estimated that 500 new cohabitant recipients are expected annually during the initial years.

There is a bit of work to be done on this. As I said, my officials are working on this. I have met Mr. O'Meara, who found himself in an awful situation. I am glad we have been able to work on this and can bring forward legislation in due course that will reflect a modern society.

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