Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister's statement which sets out the actions he has taken to date with regard to the shortfall of funding in the nursing home support scheme. During Question Time last week I used the word "misappropriation" of funds and was berated by the Minister for so doing. The Minister said it was an extreme word, one that should not be used outside the House. However, the Minister stated in an article in The Irish Times that it was quite possible that other pots of money might have been "pilfered", which is an equally strong word. Are there concerns in regard to the allocation of money in the context of corporate governance and who made the decisions to transfer money from one subhead to another? That is a serious issue.

This matter has caused much anxiety for people who made applications under the fair deal scheme and people who were considering whether they needed long term care. I assume, from the Minister's statement today, that everyone who makes an application and qualifies under the fair deal scheme will be approved in the months ahead regardless of the number of people who apply. Perhaps the Minister will clarify if that is the case. This is the most important issue for people who are planning for their long term needs in terms of nursing home care.

The Minister set out the statistics in relation to the scheme, which highlight the longer duration of stay in nursing homes. This either means people are making a conscious decision to apply for the fair deal scheme because it makes long term care financially viable or that we do not have in place enough supports in the community or by way of home care packages to allow people remain in their homes. As the Minister said, as a Parliament and society we must debate how we are going to address the challenges facing this country in the context of an aging population. This issue also feeds into the debate on pensions.

The review due to be published last Friday has not been published. The Minister said the reason for this is that the review was not a full review and as such did not show up the necessary detail in regard to where the money went, on what it was spent and, more important, how he will get this money back in order to fund the fair deal nursing home scheme. When can we expect the final review to be published?

Another issue of concern, which I have previously highlighted in the House, is the overlapping of corporate governance in the HSE. Currently the HSE board consists of HSE employees who are basically reporting to themselves. Is there a breakdown of communications or even trust between the Minister, Department of Health and Health Service Executive in the context of trying to ascertain the facts of what happened to the funding for the fair deal scheme?

Fianna Fáil was supportive of the putting in place of a long term scheme that would remove the pressures being put on families for many years in relation to subventions, applications and whether they would be able to afford long term nursing home care. The fair deal scheme has been a good scheme in that it has removed the uncertainty and has guaranteed people who qualify access to nursing home care, be it public, private or voluntary. As borne out by the statistics, the scheme has benefited many thousands of people.

As regards Rostrevor nursing home and the issues raised in that regard, the Health Information and Quality Authority was set up to inspect health and social care facilities. It is important as many inspections as possible are carried out and that the resources in that regard are made available. This includes public, private and voluntary facilities. HIQA should not distinguish between nursing homes be they public, private or voluntary. We must ensure enforcement of the inspection service and that HIQA goes about its business in a thorough manner, as it did in the context of Rostrevor nursing home. Overall, when one considers how this was handled, including the uncertainty created in recent weeks and which still remains, the Minister must give us a cast-iron guarantee today that everybody who applies and qualifies will get approval. When the scheme was suspended, there was no statement from the Minister, the Department or the HSE and the information was extracted by stealth over that weekend and the following week until it was raised in the House and we eventually got a statement from the Minister in that context.

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