Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There was no legal entitlement there and people who claim there was are incorrect. Things were changed in 2009, long before I was a Minister - I was in opposition, in fact - when the fair deal scheme was brought in. Certainly by the time the Government was formed in 2011 and by the time the fair deal scheme was set up in 2009, there was a scheme in place to provide nursing home care on a universal basis to people. There was also a compensation scheme that was established by the previous Government and its Minister for Health, Mary Harney. That compensation scheme was put in place for people who attended public nursing homes. This matter relates to people who attended private nursing homes and the view of the State was that their medical card did not give them an entitlement to refunds for private care, just as it does not do so now. Even if it had, it would not have been a case of just going to the nursing home of their choice and then asking the Government to pick up the bill. There would have had to have been some scheme in place. That is the defence the State had.

See this speech in context