Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Providing safe and decent residential care for older people is one of our key long-term challenges. As people live longer, the number who will need residential care will increase. The Government's response is twofold. We want to provide home help and qualified assistance to allow as many as possible to live as independently as possible and for as long as possible in their own homes. An enormous range of measures has been put in place and funded in the recent past. An outline has also been given by the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health and Children of what they want to achieve in the short term.

Second, we want to ensure that those who must go into residential care have the assurance of a quality place in a nursing home, where there is now a new and fair deal on how everybody pays. Long-term issues facing us such as care for the elderly and pensions are very important. As Deputy Kenny knows, the system that has been in place for the past decade and a half for supporting nursing home residents is deeply unfair. People with the same means and care needs can face different costs in public and private homes. We have decided on a new and fair deal for older people, a scheme that must be——

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