Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to say to my colleagues that I was not trying to cause annoyance earlier. There was a lot of scope given. Committee Stage, which took place here just after 7 p.m., would have facilitated that discussion.

The reality is that I know of an older man in long-term nursing home care - he is watching these proceedings - who is in a desperate financial situation because of an amendment we brought forward. All of us campaigned for that amendment for over a decade to ensure family farms would not be infinitely included in long-term nursing home payments under the long-term nursing home scheme. When this was addressed, the legislation clearly stated that when a relative took over the operation of the farm, there would be a three-year cap on the calculation of the capital asset value of that farm. The difficulty is that this is not the way it is interpreted by the HSE. Unless the successor is an immediate relative, the HSE excludes him or her. I know of a constituent of the Minister of State - a first cousin once removed - who is being excluded from this. That individual's 93-year-old first cousin cannot get into long-term nursing home care because of this barrier. I know of a second individual who has exhausted all of their savings because of this. A young family is now paying for the operation of the nursing home scheme in that particular case, which is putting a noose around the neck of that young family. That was never the intention of this legislation.

Sadly what is being proposed is a restriction in relation to what is in the law as it is currently drafted. The difficulty has been that the HSE is not prepared to interpret it as such. We really need to see this issue addressed.

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