Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that. There are a couple issues here I had raised with the Minister's predecessor in terms of the scheme. The number of applicants applying and the number of payments issued to date have been quite low. That is dependent on the number applying, so clearly more work needs to be done on that messaging and communication. I know that is being done abroad but it needs to be looked at again.

Approximately 34,000 people are eligible to apply. To date, just over 6,100 people have applied to the scheme.

Regarding those institutions that are excluded, I found that quite odd. The exclusion of the institutions has been based on a list that was investigated by the commission of investigation. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has stated this is flawed in terms of the institutions that are excluded. It is very hard to tell people that because they were not in a particular institution, they do not get the support. Those excluded institutions is what I would like looked at in particular.

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