Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I will address amendments Nos. 55, 58 and 91. On No. 55, the wording "as soon as practicable" gives too much discretion to the chief deciding officer. There is no reason a decision could not be reached within 28 days as specified in section 21(1)(a) or within an additional 28 days, as specified here in our amendment, given the resources afforded to the chief deciding officer as set out in head 9 of the general scheme and that a potential workforce of up to 60 people could be required at the height of this scheme. This amendment should be accepted and it is reasonable. I hope the Minister can give consideration to it.

On amendment No. 58, which Senator Black has touched on, given that many survivors have passed away since the Taoiseach's apology on 13 January 2021 and that many survivors are elderly and given the personnel resources of the office of the chief deciding officer that are set out in section 8 and in the general scheme, we believe those who have reached the age of 75 or older should be prioritised. In addition, the turnaround time of an application must be not more than 28 days, initially for acknowledgement, and a further 15 days to process and notify the decision of the deciding officer with regard to the application. On amendment No. 91, many survivors, as I said, are elderly, and with the well-flagged issues with regard to tracing, the portal and so on, we believe that "as soon as practicable" is too vague. The office must have very strict deadlines, and be resourced to move quickly to process applications.