Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I overlooked the fact that we were dealing with grouped amendments and did not refer to amendments Nos. 5, 8 and 9.

We dealt with amendment No. 5 when we took the motion. The nursing homes support scheme is predicated on the principle that applicants must contribute according to their means. The Act provides that assets transferred within the five years prior to applying for the scheme must be taken into account in the financial assessment. This provision does not affect a person's right to sell assets for full market value. It is intended to prevent people from depriving themselves of assets for the purposes of the financial assessment. This is a technical amendment to put it beyond doubt that assets transferred after an application under the scheme is made also come within the definition of transferred assets. It is essential that there be no ambiguity in this regard and I, therefore, ask Members to support the amendment.

I do not intend to move amendment No. 9. The additional amendments to the legislation are relatively minor and, therefore, it would be useful for all concerned to continue to use the current proposed Title. Accordingly, I do not propose to move the amendment.

With regard to Deputy Denis Naughten's amendment, the nursing homes support scheme is being reviewed. The review is considering the balance of funding between long-term residential care and community-based services and the extension of the scheme to community-based services and other sectors. The outcome of the review will inform future policy on community services for older people. The amendment, regrettably, pre-empts the outcome. Timing of the review aside, the term "home care package" is not defined in legislation. The amendment proposes to put the service on a statutory footing, but it does not define the service or set out what it encompasses. This would leave the composition of a home care package open to interpretation and could result in different models emerging.

A further difficulty is that the amendment seeks to amend section 14 of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009 which relates to the calculation of the amount of State support under the scheme. At the point this is being calculated, the person concerned has been deemed to require long-term residential care services. Such services are defined in the Act and include 24 hour nursing care. This determination has been made following a care needs assessment and consideration by the local placement forum.

The cost of a home care package to encompass 24-hour nursing would be substantially higher than that of an average home care package. If accepted, the amendment would create a new pathway for accessing home care packages, but would not remove the current mechanism for accessing the service. This would result in a two-tier system whereby people who access home care packages under current arrangements would make no contribution to the cost, while people who access them in the manner proposed by Deputy Naughten would pay a contribution at the same level as those in receipt of financial support under the nursing home support scheme. For those reasons I do not propose to accept the Deputy's amendment.

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