Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

When the legislation in question was originally introduced, the Tánaiste almost blamed elderly people for imposing charges on taxpayers. On this occasion she has, at least, come before the House and declared that this is a case of mea culpa. She has indicated that this matter is a problem for the Government and that the legislation lies in tatters. I am glad the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, is present. If the Tánaiste cannot be held responsible to some degree for this debacle, he and the former Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Callely, should provide the House with an explanation of what happened during the years since the issue of illegal nursing home charges came to light.

I hope later Government speakers will clarify the position. Questions were raised when the legislation was put through the House on 16 December but we have yet to receive a clear and concise answer from any member of the Government as to what was happening during the three years since these issues were first raised. Before Christmas, an attempt was made to try to muddy the waters by involving the 11 Governments that have held office since 1970. However, this issue only reached the public domain and became a problem for the political masters of this country when the 2001 legislation was introduced. Nothing has been done about it in the interim.

The Tánaiste referred to a legal opinion sought in 1978. To the best of my knowledge, that opinion was not placed in the public domain. Neither is the 80-page legal document to which the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, once referred. If we could read this document, we would be able to discern the thinking of the health boards in 2002 when they stopped charging some nursing home patients who queried the charges.

Regardless of what the Tánaiste said earlier about the illegal nursing home charges imposed on a substantial number of patients, there is still a great deal of ambiguity about this matter. This issue, particularly in terms of the moral authority attaching to it, does not date back to 1970. The Supreme Court may have declared that these charges have been illegal since 1970. To some degree, however, we were not aware of them until 2001. That is the point Fine Gael has continually made when raising this issue. Nothing has been done since 2001 when the illegality of these charges first came to light.

When the Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill was introduced, it was stated that the retrospective effect of charges would be a major imposition on the patients involved. The Taoiseach, ten days before it was published, stated that the legislation would have no retrospective effect. Why did the Tánaiste's officials include such a retrospective effect when the Taoiseach had stated that it would not be included? The legislation was published only 24 hours before being rushed through the Dáil. The legal opinion sought by Fine Gael at that stage indicated that this retrospective element would be unlikely to survive a High Court challenge because of the number of people and the costs involved. However, the retrospective element was very much at the core of the legislation. Why was that the case? Did the Tánaiste seek legal advice in respect of it before the legislation was put through the House? We were always of the opinion that it would never survive a challenge.

Will the Tánaiste indicate clearly that she will not invoke the Statute of Limitations in respect of this issue? This point is highlighted in the Supreme Court judgment which states: "Taking into account the right of the State to limit its liability by reliance on the Statute of Limitations, it was said that the figure to be repaid for the past six years could be of the order of €500 million." Will the Tánaiste confirm that she is definitely not going to invoke the statute?

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