Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

We will come to that. That is all they have. Does the €2,000 that is to be paid to those concerned represent a first instalment?

Let us consider the years from 2001. For 80% of the pensioners, it amounted to IR£80 in 2001, €104 in 2002, €117 in 2003, and €120 in 2004. Senator Leyden should not make a big deal out of that. If one only pays back €2,000, there is still an outstanding bill of €19,500. Is that the first instalment? That might encourage the Government to go back and talk to those affected. If it is a once-off payment and the rest is to be forgotten about, the Government should answer why it is illegally withholding €19,500 from the pensioners and others who have had to pay in such a situation.

In the past, health boards harried relations and patients to get money from those in hospital, who were vulnerable. If in long-term hospitals or care, they were in no position to defend themselves and whatever resources they might have saved over the years. They had to hand over a portion, sometimes half and sometimes most of it. In the most extreme instances, they had to sell their homes — or their relatives had to do it for them — to allow them to remain in the long-stay beds.