Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Let us say a person's house is worth €650,000 and he or she has savings of €80,000 but has a very low income after tax. The person is 75 years old and lives for three years after admission to the fair deal scheme. The person's net worth on death is €730,000. Let us say for argument's sake, that the fair deal scheme needs €230,000 to cover the cost of care. What happens to the €500,000?