Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Unlike my colleague, I do not think this will be the start of the debate. I would say the Government is hoping it will be the end of it.

According to a 2011 Department of Health report, up to 250,000 nursing home residents with medical cards were incorrectly charged for public nursing home care since 1976, yet the Attorney General’s report into the nursing home fees finds that the Government acted prudently and in the taxpayer’s interests. The report also finds that there is no positive legal duty to return proactively the disability allowance that was illegally taken from 12,000 recipients.

We see yet another example of this State taking advantage of the most vulnerable in our society and then refusing to give the appropriate redress, if any, when caught out. The Attorney General’s report suggests that not only is it acceptable to take money from the most vulnerable in society but the State is then somehow not legally required to give it back when it is caught out. Unfortunately, it would not be true to say I am surprised at the Attorney General’s findings. I will say, however, that I am extremely disappointed. The report takes an incredibly narrow view and I would question the view the Attorney General has decided to take on this.

We also need to question the role of the Attorney General, an unelected official with unchallenged power across all Departments and often the final say on incredibly significant issues such as this. It is concerning to me that we do not question this role more given the weight and power of his decisions, but then Ministers need something to hide behind when they make a decision, which is why we do not question it.

The Attorney General's report states that the public interest, including protecting the taxpayer, was the only interest of the State and that questions of intergenerational fairness also arise in circumstances where any redress must be funded from the taxes of a younger generation of workers. This completely ignores the fact that younger generations have also suffered from this in trying to fund their parents or grandparents' care and it also calls into question the Attorney General’s idea of fairness. Is fairness taking advantage of the vulnerable in our society and then calling this a legally sound decision? It seems the Attorney General and, therefore, this Government thinks so.

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