Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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339. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 1352 of 17 February 2024, the steps to be taken by a person to have their application to the mother and baby institutions payment scheme given priority by reason of their age or their health; if a procedure is in place to facilitate such requests in advance of the opening of the scheme given the passage of time since its announcement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3562/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I believe the Deputy means Question No. 1352 of January 2024.

The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme will be the largest scheme of its type in the history of the State with an anticipated 34,000 people eligible for its benefits. Given its scale and significance the Scheme has been placed on a statutory footing and enabling legislation – the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023 – was signed into law last July.

In advancing this legislation I was very conscious that many potential applicants to the Scheme are elderly and that some may be suffering from terminal illness. In that regard I made provision in the legislation that priority may be given to an application depending on the applicant’s circumstances, including their age and their health.

The Case Management System that has been developed to underpin the administration of the Scheme will automatically carry out prioritisation based on the age of applicants. All the applicant has to do is provide their date of birth and the system will prioritise accordingly.

A procedure to accord priority health status to an application will also be in place.