Last year legislation came into being, the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023, but nothing has happened. That legislation followed on from a report that took five years to report. The Government got that report in October 2020 and it was published in January 2021. That had followed on from Catherine Corless's seminal work from more than a decade ago. Two years and a decade ago she published her article in the Journal of the Old Tuam Society. Here we are now 12 years later, five years after a report, and almost one year after the legislation, with empty promises and no opening for applications for the redress scheme. It is an absolute disgrace. It is unacceptable. At the very least today can the Minister now clarify when that scheme will open for applications, albeit that the scheme itself is appalling, exclusionary and furthers the abuse? Will the Minister please confirm now when it is going to open?

I assure the Deputy there is no political blockage to that scheme getting up and running. The Government fully sanctioned the scheme. It is a very large scheme and will cost approximately €800 million making it the largest scheme of its type in the history of the State. It is the right thing to do and we considered it very carefully as a Government. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy with a comprehensive note on the issue but I am informed that at the moment the Government is currently finalising the administrative structures required for the scheme. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy with as specific a date as he can possibly provide for the actual opening of it. The Government provided the sanction and we want it to happen as quickly as possible. The issue is about administratively getting a complex scheme up and running but we want it to happen as quickly as possible.