Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

The Minister of State said my amendment will not be necessary because of what will be assessed but the Bill does not state what account will be taken of these matters or how bad one must be in order to qualify. That is a major flaw in the Bill and the assessments will be very subjective. What one HSE official decides is a level of dependence for which a person qualifies, another might decide is not. The bar might be set differently in different parts of the country and that is not fair.

The issue of farms is of particular concern to my colleagues in Fine Gael and I share their concern. Coming from the county where "The Field" was written, the Ceann Comhairle understands the deep feelings Irish people have about family farms and continuity. This measure will have major resonance in Ireland. I am not sure the amendments proposed by the Minister of State fully address the concerns expressed by my colleagues in Fine Gael.

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