We are hearing misinformation from the other side of the House, as well as crocodile tears and grandstanding. The statement from the Department of Health on the mobility allowance and motorised transport includes the following:

The funding provided for the mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant of €10.6 million will be ring-fenced and used for a new scheme to improve access to transport for people with disabilities. There will not be any reduction in funding.

The important words in that statement are "a new scheme to improve access to transport for people with disabilities". That is what it says. The money will be ring-fenced.

A person cannot make an application for the grant.

Senators on the other side of the House should refrain from these crocodile tears.

Senator, have you a question for the Leader?

I have two questions for the Leader. First, I agree with Senators Jim D'Arcy and Michael Comiskey and I ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to consider extending the hedge cutting season for one more week. Much work was left undone this year because of the wet weather. The land is only drying out now.

I also ask that the Minister for Finance would change the status of credit unions with regard to money they invested in IBRC, formerly Anglo Irish Bank. Approximately 20 credit unions invested in bonds of €500,000 in a special scheme for credit unions. They are not now on the priority list of creditors and face the loss of some of that money. I ask that the Minister, either through legislation or a ministerial order, would change their status in this regard so that ordinary people will not lose their money.

I support Senator O'Neill's call for an extension to the hedge cutting season by a week, given the poor weather. I ask the Leader to ask the Minister to attend to that matter.

With regard to the Ombudsman's report on the mobility allowance and motorised transport scheme, Opposition Senators have very short memories, as normal. Many of these problems have been around for a very long time.

What about Sligo hospital? Does Senator O'Keeffe remember that commitment?

I am talking about these particular grants.

These cuts. Of course.

I am talking about Fianna Fail's failure to do anything about them.

Senator O'Keeffe, do you have a question for the Leader on today's Order of Business?

I do. Like others, I am concerned about people who need grants. The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, addressed the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, of which I am a member, and said:

That is the other option. We hope the scheme will continue to protect the people most in need. We will have somebody new to devise a scheme. We are inviting someone in to draw it and we will do this with consultation. We are ring-fencing the money. We do not yet know the shape of the scheme. We hope it can be operated, not only in an efficient manner but that those most in need of the service will receive it.

Not many people noticed that committee meeting. The Minister of State made that statement on 6 February.

I welcome the Ombudsman's efforts to make the scheme an equal one for everybody. If we call for a debate on this matter, I am sure the Minister of State will come to the House so that we can add to the sum of knowledge regarding drawing up a new scheme that would be appropriate for those who most need it, which is what we ought to be doing.

To have continued to ignore the Ombudsman's ruling that the scheme was illegal would have been to do what many previous Governments did regarding Ombudsman's rulings about illegality in the Department of Health. I am grateful to the Ombudsman for her perseverance in this matter.