Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of payments processed in relation to the long stay charges repayment scheme; the timeframe a person would expect to wait for payment after application to the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35450/06]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 202: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the amount of money refunded to date to those people who were illegally charged for nursing home care. [35516/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 114 and 202 together.

The Health (Repayment Scheme) Act 2006 came into effect on 30 June 2006. The repayment scheme was launched publicly by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the scheme administrator KPMG/McCann Fitzgerald on 14 August 2006. A national advertising campaign and a helpline also commenced on this date.

The HSE have informed the Department that over 126,000 forms have been dispatched to members of the public.

The Scheme Administrator has commenced scanning the records of long stay facilities around the country and to date more than 50 locations have been visited for this purpose. These records will form the basis for the calculation of the majority of the repayments.

The HSE have informed the Department that over 17,000 forms have been submitted to the scheme administrator applying for repayments and these applications are being processed at present. The timeframe for payment is predicated primarily on whether the applicant is alive or whether the application is being made by a family member or the estate of a deceased person. Priority is being given to pay those who are still alive. It is estimated that there are now in the region of 15,000 people within this category. Living people who were wrongly charged will be first to receive payments under the scheme.

The HSE has advised that the first offers of repayment are commencing this week and that the first payments are expected to issue before the end of November with further payments continuing thereafter in subsequent weeks. It is expected that the bulk of payments to estates will commence in the Spring of 2007.

Provision has been made for applications to be received up to 1 January 2008.