Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues for putting down this motion.

All we are asking for here today is that the nursing home support scheme lives up to its commonly known title, the fair deal scheme, when it comes to farm families and small business owners. I cannot imagine that those who first drew up the details of this scheme could have foreseen the level of distress it would cause to these two groups. We are not talking here about someone with, for instance, a property portfolio for whom the sale of a property here or there will not adversely affect the stability of what remains, but one cannot have a big annual bill mounting up against the value of a farm or small family business without it eventually directly threatening the future of those assets, which are productive assets.

A productive agricultural sector with thriving family farms plays a significant part in the economy of this country. Currently, there are almost 140,000 farms in Ireland. Agrifood is our most important indigenous sector, employing 8.6% of the working population. Anything that threatens to fragment these farms is bad, not only for families and local communities but for the country as a whole.

We had a senior HSE official some time ago claiming that some farm families were keeping elderly relatives in hospital to avoid them being placed in a nursing home and to avoid the fair deal scheme fees. While some farm groups have denied this is going on, it illustrates how much of a problem the scheme is causing for families and the worry that it has brought about by any perceived threat to the family farm. While it is an asset, it will not remain so if there is 7.5% of its value being surrendered every year while someone remains in nursing home care and the amounting bill may leave a family with no option but to sell it off.

Equally, when it comes to small businesses, we need to avoid upsetting the often delicate balance that exists in this sector. They all too often operate on marginal profits and anything that impacts on that fine balance of survival is not good for the country and its economy. At present, in Ireland, small firms employing fewer than ten account for more than a quarter of all employees in the labour market. That is how important they are.

With this motion, we are asking not for special treatment, but fair treatment. There is a willingness in Government to address this issue and bring more fairness to play. The programme for a partnership Government published more than a year ago undertook to introduce changes as soon as practicable to remove a discrimination against small businesses and family farms under the fair deal nursing home scheme but goodwill is not good enough. Farm families and those involved in small family businesses need to see good intentions turned into action. The current Government has already accepted that there is discrimination and it is time for action now to end it.

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