I call Deputy Mary Lou McDonald.

I am sure people will have heard very clearly that not alone had the Taoiseach been briefed on and overseen the legal strategy to frustrate those who had been illegally charged in getting their money back but that, in fact, he supports that strategy, and I assume that stands for his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris. It needs to be said that neither the Ombudsman nor the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission shared the Taoiseach's confidence in the State's legal position. As a matter of fact, the strategy was to settle before discovery because the State was very concerned it was on the wrong side of the law and, indeed, the State never found what it would term a "suitable case" to go to trial on. For all the Taoiseach's bombast here this afternoon, the State and Governments of which he was a member - indeed, he was a serving Minister for Health - never had the confidence to go to trial.

In 2017, there were still 220 claims in the system. Could the Taoiseach tell the House how many claims there are, as of today?

Deputy McDonald keeps using the term "illegal charges". I will keep saying to her that we do not accept that. The Health Act 1970 does not provide free private nursing home care for people with medical cards. That is the view of the Government. We have bona fide defences in that regard. They were prepared by the Attorney General down the years.

That is contested.

Anything can be contested, but the Deputy keeps making a bogus assertion which is unproven, that these charges were illegal. She can make it all she likes, but it is not the case. It is certainly unproven. All cases were not settled. In some cases, claims were settled without any payment. I do not have the up-to-date numbers, but I will ask the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to provide them for the Deputy.

I asked how many cases there are, as of today, that are still live.

I do not know, but I will ask the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to provide them for the Deputy.