Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

Given the amounts charged in administrative fees, the institutions are going to end up with more money but is there any benefit to the residents of institutions from these charges? It seems they were simply seen as a soft target. The Government is legally compliant in that it imposes a charge irrespective of whether a patient is elderly or has an intellectual or physical disability but many of the people to whom I refer are not in a position to fight back and their parents and families often do not fight because they do not want to upset the institutions. This is a mean charge on a vulnerable group of people.

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