Results 4,841-4,860 of 11,509 for speaker:Mary Butler

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Mary Butler: The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is doing much work to try to get this pilot scheme up and running and move the administration from each CHO. We must start somewhere. It takes time, but she can certainly build on it. It is important to record that the original Act from 2009 refers to maintenance expenses. Provision in that regard is made for maintenance expenses in respect of a...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Mary Butler: We need to bring this conversation back into context a little. I understand where the Senator is coming from. There is absolutely no impediment in legislation or practice to prevent a person who is receiving care under the nursing home support scheme from leaving nursing home care and returning home or to a different setting. The nursing home support scheme was put in place in 2009 to...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Mary Butler: The point I continue to make is that there is no impediment in legislation or in practice to prevent a person who is receiving care under the fair deal scheme from leaving a nursing home. Recently, I worked on the case of a man leaving an acute hospital whose house was being reconfigured to support him with a downstairs bathroom and bedroom. He entered a nursing home for eight weeks and was...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Mary Butler: I agree with my colleague, Senator Byrne. Senator Higgins is conflating a successor and an inheritance. The mechanisms created under the Bill for the appointment of a family successor are strictly in place for the purpose of calculating a person's contribution to long-term care. They have no other role. That is their only role. The successor may not inherit the farm. The successor can...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Mary Butler: Legislation does not belong only to the Government. That is why I worked constructively on Committee Stage in the Dáil with some Deputies who were not members of the Government and who had brought forward amendments. I took on board three amendments. The first of those proposed that when the Bill is signed into law, it will be enacted within 90 days. The second amendment proposed...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Mary Butler: When considering how couples are treated under this Bill, fairness has always been the guiding principle. This is particularly relevant when considering the appointment of a family successor in respect of both members of a couple regarding the same productive asset in cases where both members of the couple are living and in cases where one member of the couple is deceased. I will address...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Mary Butler: I acknowledge the help and support the Cathaoirleach gave me over the past two weeks to ensure the Bill, which only passed Report Stage in the Dáil on Wednesday, would be taken in the Seanad on Second Stage yesterday and on Committee and Remaining Stages today. I thank all the Senators for their contributions to the debate and for their time, yesterday and today. Many of them have...

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: I thank members of the committee for considering the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill and for tabling amendments. I look forward to discussing the amendments with members today. I wish to advise the committee that I will bring several Government amendments on Report Stage. Many of these are technical in nature but some are more substantive. I referred to these amendments on...

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: I wish to flag that I will be bringing an amendment on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: Will I speak to Deputy Healy-Rae's point first? As the amendment has been ruled out of order, is there any need to do so?

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: I thank Deputy Shortall for giving me the opportunity. The amendment relates to the application for appointment of a family successor to the farm or relevant business. Several new provisions will be required to describe the process that will apply when the second member of a couple applies for relief under the Bill. In most cases a couple will have the same family successor. This will...

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: I thank Deputy Naughten for tabling this amendment. There is no impediment in the Act to another person being present to support a person in care in the context of an interview, as Deputy Cullinane said, or to support any other relevant person who is called for an interview. I am assured by the HSE that, in general, anyone interviewed under the scheme is free to have another person to join...

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: Can the committee hear me now?

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: I cannot accept the amendment as it is currently drafted but I want to work with the committee on it. I want to bring forward on Report Stage an amendment that addresses the issue. There will be a need to distinguish clearly between the support that might be provided in an interview and the formal processes already established. My objection is only to the inclusion of the word "advocate"...

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: I thank the Deputy for that contribution. It is assumed that persons in care have the full capacity to represent themselves during an interview unless a representative has been appointed to act on their behalf. A number of persons specified in section 47 of the principal Act may act on behalf of another person on any matter. However, in the context of ancillary State support, only the care...

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: That is much appreciated. Deputy Durkan raised an issue about timeframes. That will be dealt with later on through another amendment that has been tabled. We can discuss the matter then. I thank Deputy Naughten for his co-operation.

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: I thank the Deputy. The relief is not automatic but is contingent on a family successor being appointed. Such a successor cannot be appointed until the amendment is enacted and commenced. That is the big problem. The condition that needs to be met under the scheme means that a successor must be in place. That is the entire premise on which this scheme is being enacted. It needs to be...

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: The premise of the new scheme is contingent on the family successor being appointed, which cannot happen until the amendment is enacted and commenced. It is a year since I was appointed to this role. It is a year today since I got the call from the Taoiseach. One of my priorities was to get this Bill through. We will have Report Stage before the summer recess. A huge amount of work has...

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: To be a successor, a person has to be officially appointed under the Act. In addition, anybody in a nursing home can avail of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, fair deal scheme, whether a farmer, a small business person or owner of a principal private residence. It is challenging but we are trying to fix the unintended consequence of the 2009 Act where farm families and small...

Select Committee on Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2021)

Mary Butler: If it has been transferred in the past five years, that means the farm is no longer in their ownership. The whole premise of this-----