Results 6,741-6,760 of 11,491 for speaker:Mary Butler

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-----

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

Mary Butler: If the person has spent time in the nursing home and it is their home, the time spent in the nursing home will be taken into account from the moment a successor is appointed.

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

Mary Butler: Yes

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

Mary Butler: If he or she does not own the farm, it does not come into it. That person will enter the nursing home and be calculated under his or her principal private residence. If that person no longer-----

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

Mary Butler: The time when the farm was transferred to another family member does not count.

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

Mary Butler: My understanding is that the same premise applies. When an applicant retires or ceases working the farm or business prior to entering long-term care, it is expected that his or her partner or the family successor will have taken over the farm. The cap will first apply when the person has spent three years in a nursing home. This is the amendment we are introducing in respect of the sale of...

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

Mary Butler: I appreciate that and we can furnish information in writing to the Deputy on this question.

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

Mary Butler: There are quite a few complex issues there. The first response I will give is to Deputy Danny Healy-Rae. He raised his concerns on Second Stage and I have spoken to him in person. The Deputy's concern is that by including a farm or business asset in the financial assessment at all, it could challenge the future viability of the farm or business as a productive asset that could provide an...

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

Mary Butler: To be clear, the person is in a nursing home but is paying for it privately.

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

Mary Butler: He or she has not applied for the fair deal scheme.