Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for those replies. I wish to go back over some of the questions that were asked earlier about the fair deal scheme. When the scheme was initiated, property values were very different. Later on, the economic crash changed the potential income so the scheme varied a bit. If I remember rightly, a more forensic approach was then taken to people qualifying. In his opening remarks Mr. O'Brien noted it was on a named resident basis whereby people are individually evaluated as to whether they qualify for the scheme. Therefore, they probably are in greater medical need than they would have been when the scheme was originally considered.

As regards the length of time involved, dementia cases are probably at a more advanced stage than would have been the case when the scheme was initially devised. When people go into the scheme, my understanding is that the 7.5% rate is for up to three years. Are a significant number of people at a more advanced stage medically? Does Mr. Healy know how many people would be in the scheme for six months, a year, or less than three years? How is that handled?