Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

The Acting Chairman, Deputy Glennon, has indicated to the Minister of State but he will find there are other Members who wish to speak on this amendment. I understand the Acting Chairman is now more relaxed and I wish him well in the future.

This is an important issue that must be addressed if there is to be any justice in terms of assessing the income of elderly people. The Bill provides for a differentiation in terms of the valuations of family homes. A house that is worth less than €500,000 in the Dublin area will be excluded from assessment whereas the threshold is €300,000 for houses elsewhere. I do not know on what planet the Minister of State lives although I am told his home address is in County Kildare. He knows as well as anyone else that houses in counties Kildare, Wicklow and Meath, particularly in the areas close to Dublin, are reaching the same prices as those in parts of Dublin. Likewise, Galway city has had a track record for decades of high house prices. Kilkenny city is probably the same. Under the provision of this Bill, however, the lower threshold will apply to cities such as Galway.

This is unacceptable. As a representative of County Wicklow, I resent the notion that home owners in Dublin will have preferential treatment relative to those in a county that is under similar housing pressures. One of the solutions is simply to ensure parity across the board, which is what I propose in amendments Nos. 9 and 10. This is not, however, the ideal solution. My party sought to have the family home excluded and these amendments, therefore, represent second best. However, they at least give some recognition to the fact that high house prices are not a Dublin-only phenomenon. This type of Dublin-centred view contained in the Bill is unacceptable.

There is another issue in regard to the way valuation of the family home is being used as a yardstick in terms of assessment of income. When I first considered the Bill, I thought that if one's house was valued at over €500,000, 5% of the excess would be assessed as income. However, on Committee Stage, the Minister clarified matters and said that the entire valuation would be subject to the 5% levy, which is really quite daft. If the valuation of a house is €500,000 or under, it does not enter the equation, but if it is €510,000, the entire value of the property is taxed, and that makes no sense whatsoever. The margin is slight, and yet the effect is extremely significant.

If the valuation were only from €500,000 upwards and only that element of the house's value were taxed, that might be fairer. However, at the moment there is an arbitrary cut-off point. It is so arbitrary that, if one does not have a Dublin address, one loses out. It used to be that Dublin 4 was a desirable address, but now it will be a Dublin address, full stop. If one happens to have a house valued at €10,000 more than that of one's neighbour, one may find that one's income is assessed in a completely different manner from that of someone with a house worth €500,000 or under.

Only yesterday a woman contacted me who had been trying to find a house for €300,000 in north Wicklow but given up in desperation. This is to be fixed in legislation, but where is the index-linking? Perhaps the Minister might clarify if it is index-linked and recognises the fact that house prices are rising inexorably and that people are having ever more difficulty keeping up. This matter has not been thought out at all. It is arbitrary and theoretical, as if we were not dealing with human beings but merely with keeping costs down. It does not recognise the reality of people's lives.

What is the point of establishing an interdepartmental group to examine the entire issue of funding for elderly care without ensuring that the report is published and debated in full, with consultation on its findings before decisions are taken? That does not seem to make any sense whatsoever, and it is yet another example of muddled thinking on the part of a Government that has given up making commitments to caring for the elderly in a humane manner appropriate to our status as a rich country that can afford to provide decent, high-quality care, something of which there is currently no guarantee.

There is too much emphasis on the private sector, but at the same time as the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, is driving her ideological carriage through the health service, she fails to provide the proper statutory framework for the inspection and regulation of nursing homes. It is not as if most things were right in the sector, and the Government does not have a good track record. Now it has produced a Bill that is not fair and will not deal with elderly people in an appropriate fashion. We are expected to stay quiet, and I ask that the Minister consider what has been said to him, even at this late stage.

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