Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 217: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding payments under the national repayment scheme. [18528/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The health repayment scheme was launched in August 2006 and is administered by the Health Service Executive (HSE) in conjunction with the appointed Scheme Administrator KPMG/McCann Fitzgerald.

The position at 15th June, 2007 was that 3,200 offers of repayment, with a value of approximately €60m, have been issued by the scheme administrator. Arising from these offers approximately 1,800 repayments with a value of approximately €38m have been made to date.

The rate of repayment is lower than had been projected. I understand from the HSE that this is due to a number of factors including the legal and technical requirements, a high level of deficiencies in the application forms submitted to the scheme administrator and complexities in the operation of the probate process.

In accordance with the Health (Repayment Scheme) Act 2006, priority has been given to repaying living applicants as they were most immediately affected. However, repayments to estates have now commenced.

A dedicated website, an information phone line and an e-mail facility have been established by the scheme administrator to assist the public in accessing claim forms and general information on the scheme. The information line operates between the hours of 9.00 am and 6.00 pm Monday to Friday. The helpline has dealt with over 50,000 queries to date.

The HSE is monitoring the operation of the repayment scheme and has agreed a range of initiatives with the scheme administrator to speed up the repayment process. The closing date for receipt of applications is 31st December 2007 and I have been informed by the HSE that final repayments should be made by mid 2008.