Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We should all be slightly wary of the estimate. It seems that estimates associated with many of these issues were very high relative to the reality. For example, a €5 billion estimate was put on the repayment scheme and it ended up being less than 10% of that. It would seem that very high estimates were put against many of these issues over time. The issue at hand essentially is whether with regard to the household contributions, which were not covered in the repayment scheme and were judged by the scheme itself to be not covered under it, there are individual cases where the level of care provided would be considered inpatient services rather than household contributions. That is exactly what the Department is looking into.

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