Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I wish to be helpful. I will ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government or somebody in his Department to brief the Deputy on this prior to the committee meeting, which I assume will be next week. If Members are not satisfied with the outcome of the discussions in committee, this can be brought to the Whips' attention and we can deal with it in the full forum of this Chamber.

Deputy Bruton raised a matter which is not necessarily relevant to the Order of Business, but I will address it so that we can progress the business of the House. The issue of nursing homes subvention funding has been raised on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, the fair deal legislation has been subject to unavoidable and unforeseen delays. We expect the legislation in July. That being said, an allocation has been made available through the fair deal. The Minister for Health and Children has carefully considered the question of allowing some of the funding allocated for the fair deal to be used for nursing homes subvention. Officials from her Department are in discussions with the Minister for Finance and we would hope to have a decision fairly quickly. We are addressing the issues of concern that we all have in regard to the fair deal.

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