Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

The Minister, Deputy Harney, recently proposed a new system for funding long-term nursing care for the elderly. The starting point is the current situation in long-term care which is, as she described it, "jumbled and carefree". In an article published in The Irish Times on 14 December 2006 she summarised the position as follows:

The fact is that, up to this budget, a single person with just the non-contributory old age pension with a house worth €235,000, would qualify for zero nursing home subvention. He or his family would have to pay the full cost of care in a private nursing home.

The kernel of the issue is, therefore, who has permitted this situation to develop. The finger of blame is clearly pointed at the Minister for Health and Children and her Government colleagues who have been in power for the past ten years. How could they allow such an appalling situation to arise in the face of the unprecedented wealth being generated, where enormous budget surpluses have been the order of the day? Has she or her colleagues ever considered that one of the basic functions of the State is, through its social and health policies, to support all those who are disadvantaged and unable to care for themselves? A brief resort to Article 45.5.1° of Bunreacht na hÉireann should remind them of their role in this regard. It states: "The State pledges itself to safeguard with especial care the economic interests of the weaker sections of the community, and, where necessary, to contribute to the support of the infirm, the widow, the orphan, and the aged." In that context one wonders why my colleague, Deputy Stagg, and I receive letters from people who have children in St. John of God's at St. Raphael's in Celbridge stating their concern that because their son or daughter is in receipt of a disability allowance, old age pension or blind person's allowance there will be a deduction at source on foot of their staying in those facilities. A paragraph from one such letter states that the writer's son has never had the capacity to earn any income and is totally reliant on his family and St. Raphael's for all his needs; that his only income is a disability allowance of €165.80 per week at the time of the writing of the letter, December 2006; that the money was spent on personal items of clothing, social occasions such as swimming, cinema, bowling and special events, such as the annual holiday and the pilgrimage to Lourdes. Where does the Minister for Health and Children stand on caring for the infirm, the widowed, the orphaned and the aged?

Instead of looking after the weaker sections of the community, the Government has singled out the infirm and the aged as a special group, just because they are ill and elderly, and plans to take 80% of their income and, ultimately, 15% of their property. How can this constitute looking after the economic interests of these people? Despite the information from the Department on the nursing homes subvention, the family home is still under serious threat because, in the information supplied on the website and by the Minister, no allowance is made for a spinster or bachelor who resides with his or her parents and cared for them before they went into a nursing home. How will they be cared for? How can they deal with the bills that will mount up over the period of time their loved ones are in a nursing home? It is all right for the Minister, given the wealth of support she has in the higher echelons of earnings, to say that €100,000 is very little in the context of the value of a home in Dublin 4 worth, perhaps, €4.5 million or €5 million. In rural Ireland €100,000 is a major contribution for any family to have to make, and we will debate it until it is removed from the legislation. The family home is sacrosanct. It is the only thing people have, but the Minister continues to try to force down our throats the idea that it provides a viable opportunity for the Government to claw back money from ordinary people. We will make this an issue in the forthcoming election and if we get back into power we will reverse the Minister's policy of selling the family home over the heads of the people who cared for their loved ones before they went into a nursing home.

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