Johnny Brady (Meath, Fianna Fail)

With regard to the principal private residence of an applicant, the new criteria will take into account whether it is occupied by a relative of an applicant who is, for example, a spouse, a child under the age of 21 years or in full-time education, or a relative in receipt of certain Department of Social and Family Affairs payments. Where an applicant's principal residence is not constantly occupied by a relative, the HSE shall exclude 95% of the estimated market value of the principal residence from the financial assessment of the applicant and where 5% of the market value of the principal residence shall be taken into account. The Bill provides for this percentage to be amended by way of further regulations so that a high percentage of a principal residence will be excluded from the assessment.

The interdepartmental group on long-term care reported to the Government which took on board several principles contained in the new social partnership agreement, Towards 2016. The agreement described a range of initiatives covering new arrangements for residential and community-based care for older people. Progress to date in implementing actions in the long-term care report includes the HSE developing a national standardised care needs assessment and a standardised financial assessment process for home care packages. A needs analysis of residential care requirements for older people has been finalised by the HSE. National protocols for case management for home care packages are being developed by the HSE as part of the guidelines' roll-out. A planning exercise on staffing requirements for future developments for older people and the disabled is being undertaken by the Department of Health and Children and the HSE. A cross-departmental team on sheltered housing will be established and chaired by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Work will include other groups such as the disabled. A steering committee will be set up to begin the preparatory work of evaluating the effectiveness of the additional home care packages.

Work is continuing on the development of a financially sustainable system of funding long-term care, a new scheme whereby those in private and public facilities would be eligible for the same level of State support, rendering the system more equitable. The new system will propose appropriate levels of co-payments by care recipients based on a national standardised financial assessment. Standard consultation with carers' representative organisations, on a cross-departmental basis, will be led by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

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