Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 34, line 26, to delete “10 working days” and substitute “30 working days”.

This is a technical amendment. Under the legislation as it stands, the person or person's care representative who is subject to the fair deal application support scheme or is being provided with financial assistance shall give notice in writing to the executive, of any material change in circumstances, no later than ten working days after the material change in circumstances has come to the knowledge of that person. That window is insufficient.

In the example the successor is nominated by the older person and that successor is involved in a tragic farm accident and is left in a situation in which he or she is unable to farm or, even worse, has died, we are saying that within ten working days of that incident, there is a legal obligation to inform the HSE. Sadly, we have all dealt with tragic farm accidents and someone could be on a life support machine for a period. Surely, we cannot have people with this legal threat hanging over them. If someone dies in normal circumstances, there is a legal obligation that within three months - three months - the death is registered with the general registry office.

We are saying that you have three months to register a death but ten working days to inform the HSE with regard to the fair deal nursing home scheme alterations. I am looking for a reasonable period, in that there would be 30 days or one month from the date of anything happening, to informing the HSE. I also ask the Minister of State to look at a caveat being put in with regard to flexibility in unusual circumstances.

With regard to social welfare, a person has to apply within six months of reaching pension age. If you do not apply within six months, you may not get your payment backdated any further. However, there is flexibility in the legislation in that unusual circumstances, it can be backdated further than six months.

As a standard, people should have 30 days to inform the HSE of any change in circumstances but there should be a caveat or saver provision for some unusual circumstance which may come up. There could be a situation in which someone remains on a life support machine for more than 30 days and that saver provision should be put in. The principle here, which I hope the Minister of State can accept, is ten days is insufficient to inform the HSE.