Mr. Niall Redmond:

I do not think that any specific issue takes primacy with regard to what we look at. We try to look at it from every angle. We have to put our minds back to the first principles of the scheme, namely, what it is about, why it was set up, what it intends to do and what it does. It is to provide financial support. As I outlined in my opening statement, it is a means-assessed scheme, so those who can afford to do so pay more and those who cannot get more State support. That is the basic tenet of the scheme. We have to understand that and protect that basic tenet of the underlying policy of the scheme. That means that when we look at making changes to the scheme, especially changes to the financial means assessment, we have to try to understand what the consequences of those changes may be, not just for the type of change that we are trying to make but for the cohort of people to whom we are trying to introduce additional safeguards.

If we make a change to the treatment of a specific kind of asset for a policy objective, we have actually to meet that policy objective and the question of proportionality and relevance comes in. We do not want to create a scenario where effectively every asset that anybody could have would suddenly be fair game in the financial assessment. We would then be moving away from a financial means assessment of the ability to pay to this being just a payment scheme, which is not the intention of this scheme. That poses significant financial challenges with regard to the scheme going forward if the doors are thrown open to all assets being excluded from the financial means assessment. That has a significant impact on budgetary issues and the ability of people to access the scheme. The reality is that the scheme is set up so that people can get access to nursing home care when they cannot afford to do so themselves. Our primary objective with the legislation is to ensure that people can access nursing home care when they need it and are supported to do that. Anything that risks that would be a significant problem for us.