Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I did not realise that at any stage. I mentioned the private nursing home charges as a major issue. I said repeatedly that eligibility in so far as it relates to elderly people, people with disabilities, and geography is a huge question the political system is facing. We know in terms of how private nursing care has evolved and people's access to services that there is a huge difference between what happened in Dublin and the rest of the country over the past ten or 15 years, there is a huge anomaly in the system. That was the whole reason we set up the Health Service Executive, to achieve national uniformity on eligibility so that the elderly person in Limerick who may be getting €150 or €200 can now have the same treatment and services as a person living in Dublin. We have all known that in this House since the Act dealing with nursing home subventions was put in place in 1993.

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