Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach has indicated that the report to Cabinet next week will be published - that is a good thing - and also that he has agreed with my proposal that the Joint Committee on Health be fully briefed by the Secretary General. It would also be helpful if there were people there from the legal section in the Department.

In 2005, when the Travers report into illegal charging for nursing home care was published, it blamed "systematic maladministration" in the Department of Health. The report detailed how an illegal charging regime had persisted for nearly three decades and stated that there were shortcomings at political level in "not probing and questioning" this charging regime. At the time, the current Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, was Minister for Health and Children. He maintained he had never been briefed on the issue, a contention that was hotly disputed by the then Secretary General, Mr. Michael Kelly.

Fast forward 18 years and it appears we are again being told that Ministers failed to question or probe this issue. We are told a briefing note in 2016 stated, "it has been agreed by the Minister and the AGO [Attorney General’s office] that settlements are made within the range of 40% to 60% of the capital value of the claim and on the best terms possible." The Taoiseach was the Minister who was briefed at the time that note was prepared. Yesterday, on "The Pat Kenny Show", the Taoiseach was quite categoric, stating he was never party to devising or agreeing a legal strategy in relation to nursing home charges. That was not the claim. The claim was that the Taoiseach went along with it. I take it from what he is saying today that he accepts that he went along with this strategy.

On Newstalk yesterday, the Taoiseach also said the State has always disputed any liability when people were placed in private nursing homes. This may have been the public position but was that really the case behind the scenes? The legal strategy suggests it was not that clear-cut. It stated that cases should be settled as soon as discovery was sought. In 2017, we are told, a briefing document that was provided to then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and then Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for older people, Deputy McEntee, stated: "Discovery would carry very significant risks and should therefore be avoided." The implication of that seems clear. There were clearly documents within the Department that could expose the State to liability if they were made public.

The Government has now conceded that the legal strategy revealed by the Mail on Sundaydoes, in fact, exist but it said it predates 2011. That was the statement from the Government last night. Can the Taoiseach tell us when this strategy was first devised? Does he accept he was made aware of it?

When was he made aware of it? A more significant issue for all of the Ministers during that period is whether the Taoiseach or any of those Ministers ever questioned this legal strategy to determine if it was fair and if people were unfairly penalised for being denied access to nursing home care.

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