Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do. Like others, I am concerned about people who need grants. The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, addressed the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, of which I am a member, and said:

That is the other option. We hope the scheme will continue to protect the people most in need. We will have somebody new to devise a scheme. We are inviting someone in to draw it and we will do this with consultation. We are ring-fencing the money. We do not yet know the shape of the scheme. We hope it can be operated, not only in an efficient manner but that those most in need of the service will receive it.

Not many people noticed that committee meeting. The Minister of State made that statement on 6 February.

I welcome the Ombudsman's efforts to make the scheme an equal one for everybody. If we call for a debate on this matter, I am sure the Minister of State will come to the House so that we can add to the sum of knowledge regarding drawing up a new scheme that would be appropriate for those who most need it, which is what we ought to be doing.

To have continued to ignore the Ombudsman's ruling that the scheme was illegal would have been to do what many previous Governments did regarding Ombudsman's rulings about illegality in the Department of Health. I am grateful to the Ombudsman for her perseverance in this matter.