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

I will be brief because other Members need to get in. I commend the Minister of State on bringing this Bill as far as it has come.

During the lifetime of the previous Government, it was raised many times in the Dáil and it just seemed to have stalled somewhere along the line and never got to where it was meant to go, even though promises were made. I am concerned that this debate is to be guillotined despite the number of amendments that have been tabled. The debate will finish before 7.20 p.m., only 45 minutes after it began.

This is, of course, an enormous issue for the people of rural Ireland. It mostly affects people with farms. Deputy Denis Naughten raised the point that clarity is required regarding the legislation's implications for couples. People are asking about that. I know many people in my constituency who are unable to put their loved ones into nursing homes. They cannot afford to do it even though their loved ones need to be in nursing homes in order to get the proper medical attention. Some of those people were unable to get that medical attention.

The legislation discriminates against the farming sector. People in that sector are being singled out. They have been hit hardest by the fair deal scheme since its inception years ago. My worry is that we are going to rush through this legislation without debating it properly and without spending an adequate amount of time going through and discussing each amendment and teasing out any difficulties that might be there and that could be sorted out before it is passed into law. We may end up making a mistake that will cause further hardship on one sector of society, namely, those with family farms. The family home is the means of assessment everywhere else. In my view, farms should have been exempted from assessment but, unfortunately, that is not what has happened. Farmers are having to take up the slack.

I am not happy with the fact that we are cutting short the time to talk about these important amendments. Many farmers are under massive pressure because of this scheme. I would like to know if the scheme is going to be backdated. That is important because families are waiting. Payments will have to be made at some stage. Those payments may have been deferred until the person concerned has passed away. Families cannot afford those payments. Perhaps the Minister of State could clarify some of these issues.

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