Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputies for their comments. I acknowledge Deputy Daly is filling in for Deputy Cullinane. The right of entry for social workers under the safeguarding policy will be legislated for. The recruitment phase is at a very advanced stage to put in place a chief social worker in respect of the safeguarding piece we are bringing forward.

The Deputy also asked about a care partner scheme. The scheme in Northern Ireland was introduced during Covid on an administrative basis but is no longer in place. We want to strengthen the right to visiting, even in outbreak situations and this is part of the proposals being considered for revised regulations. We are engaging with stakeholders on this and hope to amend the regulations very soon. That is where we are on that. Of course, whatever amendments Deputies table will be examined.

Deputy Shortall raised quite a number of issues. First, I want to completely rebut her suggestion of preferential treatment for farmers. When the legislation was introduced in 2009, all those with a principal private residence, apart from farmers and business owners, were excluded from the 7.5% charge on the value of their house, land or properties after three years. The charge applied to those with a principal private residence but after three years in a nursing home, that stopped and people no longer had to pay the 7.5% charge. There was an anomaly there in that farmers and business owners continued to pay the 7.5% charge even after being in a nursing home for three years. The purpose of the Bill I introduced almost three years ago was to address the situation whereby farmers, specifically, were afraid to go into nursing homes because the value of their family farm could have been wiped out in instances where they stayed longer in a nursing home. Now we see that the normal length of stay in a nursing home is between 12 and 14 months. I have to rebut completely the Deputy's suggestion that there is preferential treatment of farmers; they were actually not treated properly when the Bill was introduced in 2009. Now the situation is that after three years everybody, regardless of what land or businesses they have, will no longer have to pay the 7.5% charge. It expires after three years for everybody in a nursing home.

With regard to the statutory home care scheme, on the day I introduced this Bill in the Dáil, which is three or four weeks ago now, the Cabinet gave approval for the legislative piece, which is being worked on at the moment. I hope to introduce that very quickly. It relates to standards for those who provide home care, whether they are public, private or voluntary. That is a piece that has to be done before we can legislate for statutory home care.