Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry my name was not on the list. I was down in west Cork for most of the day with the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Finian McGrath, opening a CoAction building. My colleagues and I in the Rural Independent Group have called on the Government to implement an immediate reform of how the fair deal scheme is applied to farming families and the self-employed across this State. Although I thank the Minister of State and her Department for considering this motion and proposing amendments to it, I am disappointed by their reluctance to accept the motion as it stands.

The so-called fair deal scheme is very unfair and is unworkable for the vast majority of the fishermen, shopkeepers, publicans and other self-employed people as well as the majority of farmers. Farm families in my constituency and all over the country are being forced out of their livelihoods after generations of farming because of discrimination in how the fair deal scheme is applied. This simply cannot be allowed to continue. A constituent of mine from Skibbereen lives and works on a 30 acre farm. His wife suffers from a severe brain disease and in time, she will require full-time nursing home care. This man fears that he will have to sell his farm to meet the high costs of nursing home care. This is very unfair.

It is also important to recognise the role played by the private and voluntary nursing home sector as the majority provider of long-term care under the fair deal scheme. This sector is also a major employer in local communities. There are at least seven such providers in my own constituency and they are being restrained by the current regulations under the fair deal scheme. The provisions of this motion, if implemented, will enable them to improve their services. Nursing Homes Ireland has also raised a number of other issues with regard to the fair deal scheme, such as the need for the Government to immediately publish the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, pricing review and to recognise in budget 2018 the significant and sustained cost pressures on the private and voluntary sector, including increased dependency and an aging demographic.

The current programme for Government contains a commitment to "introduce changes as soon as practicable to remove discrimination against small business and family farms under the Fair Deal Nursing Home Scheme". I cannot comprehend how, 13 months later, no changes have been implemented whatsoever. This is a sad sign of this Government's treatment of, and respect for, rural Ireland and the entire farming community.

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