Seanad report: The amount of money that would have to be spent to reimburse those in long-stay care who had been charged illegally would be sufficient to build a new children's hospital in Crumlin, a new hospital for the Mater and probably at least one other hospital, the Minister for Health and Children, Ms Harney, told the House.
"That's what we are talking about. It's a vast, vast sum of money."
She wanted to avoid unnecessary litigation and millions of euro going unnecessarily to lawyers, which was what would happen if a fair and transparent scheme was not put in place.
Several members expressed concerns that undeserving people might seek monies to which they were not entitled.
Mr Brendan Ryan (Lab) said that a fundamental problem about the whole issue was that it appeared that the Department of Health was so badly managed that it could not even ensure that it operated within the law or that it dealt with the statutory-appointed ombudsman who looked after consumers' complaints. It could not give advice to health boards about what was legal or not, and it had got itself involved in the most convoluted reasoning to try to explain what was absolutely unjustifiable.
Mr Ryan said he hoped that the Travers Report would identify how they could organise a management system that was based on transparency, accountability and the law and where regulations were not turned inside out in the interest of meeting budgetary targets. Lessons needed to be learned. It was only a matter of time before somebody challenged the so-called local contribution in primary schools.
Mr Camillus Glynn (FF) said that when he had worked in the community he had been sent to find the relatives of a person in a long-stay psychiatric institution who had died. "No such situation will arise now because they will be coming out of the woodwork, which has already happened and that is regrettable. It will be interesting to see the visitors' books in a number of those institutions to see if people who arrive claiming to be relatives of those who have passed on to their eternal reward have signed the book in the past."
Ms Mary White (FF) said she would strongly implore the Government to ensure that the 1916 Padraic Pearse surrender note be retained in this country. The hand-written document, on display at the Adams showroom in St Stephen's Green, Dublin, is to be sold in May.
Urging fellow members to go to the showroom and view the note, she said: "It's a deeply emotional experience. You can feel the pain and torture in the hand-written note that is up there."
Supporting Ms White's call, Mr Fergal Browne (FG) said the historical note should be preserved in the State for public knowledge and scrutiny.
The leader of the House, Mrs Mary O'Rourke, thanked Ms White for raising the matter. She said she hoped the State would purchase the note, which was an intrinsic part of our history.