Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

To be fair to my ministerial colleague, Deputy Martin, he negotiated that in good faith. The Government made the decision in the context of financial circumstances very different from those we face today. In the context of the budget it was a priority for the Government to introduce the fair deal to help older people in long-term care. We know we have a highly inequitable situation where someone in publicly funded residential care or in a contract bed gets 90% of the costs paid. However, somebody in a private nursing who has not got a contract bed has to pay 60% of the cost. That is unfair. It is placing an enormous burden on older people and their families and that is why the new legislation is important. Provision is made to introduce that next year.

We know that cancer outcomes in Ireland are not what they should be and we are transitioning services into eight designated centres. All the breast cancer services will be transitioned by March next year. During 2009 we shall transition prostate and lung cancer services and that requires additional resources. The main beneficiaries will be older people as well as other citizens who get cancer.

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