Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for the reply but it leaves me more confused than I was before. I do not mean that disrespectfully. Last week in The Irish Times, the Minister for Health and Children said "I believe it is only proper that money be brought back from the ancillary services and put back in to the Fair Deal scheme which will allow for the continued processing and approval of people". When this issue was raised in the Dáil several days ago, the Taoiseach said quite clearly that there would be processing and approval of applications. At the same time we find there is no approval. Does the Minister of State agree that this was badly handled in the context of notification to the public? It happened in a drip-drip manner and there was concern, fear and anxiety generated among people dependent on nursing home care or who had applied for nursing home care. We had fanfare at the announcement of the sacking of the board of the HSE, where cameras and media were tripping over each other. This took place in a drip-drip feed to the public and there was no clarity brought to the issue. There is still no clarity because one Minister is saying approvals are being allowed and today's statement says we must wait until 3 June for a review to be completed.

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