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Previously, a user trustee was required to withdraw from trusteeship if they wished to receive any benefit from the Trust. In a Macfarlane Trust meeting the embargo on benefits to trustees was discussed. It was noted that a special dispensation had been sought from the Commissioners but they had been unable to make the exception because of the general trust law.

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Peter Stevens stated that the Macfarlane Trust trustees had thought that the Government would have viewed the widows and dependants as secondary and of deserving less consideration.

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Peter Stevens stated in his evidence that the Department of Health would not give an assurance of continued funding for the Macfarlane Trust.

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Peter Stevens had said that he would make further efforts to obtain the required additional funding.

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The approach undertaken was softly softly to ensure that the Government understood the problems.

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The Trust were looking for new priorities and ways to use limited funds as they wanted the Government to be unable to resist their pleas for more money.

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Peter Stevens had told trustees to tell the Minister that they were prepared to resign which they rejected. One of the reasons he had told trustees to resign was due to the Minister stating it was an 11% increase but it was hardly an increase as it included provisions for costs of administration which had been covered under a section 64 grant.

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Peter Stevens stated in his oral evidence that he had never stopped working to try and protect the rights of the registrants and there is evidence of private discussions regarding this with civil servants.

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Despite a number of wake up calls there was a lack of openness and transparency in the running of the Trust.

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There was a misplaced distrust of the beneficiaries by the trustees for a fear that the beneficiaries would abuse the system. The distrust had led to policies requiring to be established in detail.

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From the early 1990s the policy was to restrict grants for health related issues.

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It had been restricted as the regular monthly payments would increase from time to time and adjusted for those with the greatest financial need.

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Peter Stevens stated that a census form was required to be completed for regpay. The reason a census form was required was due to the Trust needing to be kept up to date with any changes to financial circumstances as the census form required details of household bills etc.

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Peter Stevens would have, what he regarded and has recognised as, some rants that included inappropriate and disgraceful comments.

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Peter Stevens had said the Trust was inadequately set up by Government.

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Christopher FitzGerald commented in his statement to the Inquiry that he was disappointed the Government had not taken the opportunity provided by the Archer Inquiry to avoid making payments on a discretionary basis.

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Christopher FitzGerald wrote to the Government to complain that unless more money were given, the Trust could not meet its objectives adequately and said the same to officials, though the Archer Inquiry was his main hope.

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Christopher FitzGerald was given assurance in 2008 that there would be annual funding indefinitely.

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Christopher FitzGerald stated that during his time in office, guidelines were available but not necessarily circulated or published.

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Jan Barlow gave evidence that a staffing cap had been placed on the Macfarlane Trust during her time in office (January 2013 to October 2018).

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