Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I am sure he received and read the minutes of the meeting. There is no doubt there was poor management. The former Minister, Deputy Martin, allowed that situation to arise and he was the person with ultimate control of the Department. The Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, has admitted that the letter that should have been received by the Attorney General last year was not sent. Why was this letter not sent?

I welcome the fact that Mr. John Travers, the distinguished former chief executive officer of Forfás, will investigate the management of this issue by the Department. I hope that civil servants are not scapegoated, as is usual in politics. The Minister should take responsibility, as happens in other jurisdictions.

The Minister of State acknowledged in his speech that the €2,000 ex gratia payment could be challenged in the courts. The payment is fine but all bets will be off if somebody is unhappy with it and makes the case in court that it is insufficient to compensate for the payments he or she has made. This is a dangerous scenario. There seems to be great uncertainty among people who have failed to achieve admission to a public nursing home for themselves or their relatives. As a last resort, such people had to take the option of private nursing home care. This issue is the subject of a legal case and the Minister of State is far better acquainted with the legal situation than I am. However, there may well be implications if that court case is successful in that people might then be entitled to the difference between what they paid for private nursing home care and what they would have paid for public care. The issue may be more significant than we have imagined.

Nobody has any difficulty with people paying their way for nursing home care. However, the issue is that if someone gets money illegally from another party, there is no choice but to repay that money. It is as clear as that. There can be no equivocation. If I were to take money from Senator Glynn to which I was not entitled, I would return it without hesitation. I hope I would do so at least. The Government does not seem to acknowledge this principle. It is shocking that this legislation is being pushed through so that it can charge the old age pensioners involved in Christmas week. In her speech yesterday, the Tánaiste seemed to place the blame somewhat on the people involved. Her concern was that if the situation continued, there would be a cost to the State which would impact on other services. This is regrettable. The people requiring nursing home care are not blame.

We are sure to see more articles on this issue in the newspapers over the weekend. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, is under siege, whether correctly or incorrectly. The roles could be reversed next week, however, because an interesting case will be heard involving a challenge to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. If that case is successful, the Minister, Deputy Martin, may be able to dig up some files in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Environment that have implications for the Tánaiste. There may be an interesting Christmas period ahead.

The measures announced by the Tánaiste yesterday in the Dáil were shocking. Some 80% of an individual's pension will be retained for the provision of nursing home care, leaving him or her approximately €35 per week. A caller to "Five Seven Live" yesterday pointed out what this would mean for pensioners. An allowance of €5 per day is laughable. If a pensioner in this situation wishes to buy a newspaper every day and one on Sunday, it will cost approximately €9. The purchase of such items as toiletries and other everyday living expenses will be difficult. They will be unable to purchase gifts for grandchildren, smoke even ten or 20 cigarettes per week or have a few drinks.

Pensioners in long-stay nursing home care should receive a minimum of €50 per week. Pensioners built this country and should not be treated with contempt. One can tell a lot about a society by its treatment of older people. I am appalled by many of the measures in this Bill and by the reaction of the Government to the situation. The actions it is taking to correct it are shocking. The Government is penalising those who do not deserve it. A survey of the period 1990 to 2000 indicated that 38% of pensioners lived in the bottom 20% of households in income terms. I am sure these figures have been updated since then but they provide food for thought. It is amazing that the Tánaiste has lectured all other institutions, from the insurance bodies to banking institutions etc., about overcharging. However, when faced with a clear issue of overcharging by the Department of Health and Children she does the opposite to what she has preached in recent years.

Recent newspaper headlines about the Government's meanness and incompetence are deserved. It was really shocking that the Government had planned to make people complete application forms to claim back the money they were rightly due. Thank God that due to the persistence of Deputy Kenny and other Fine Gael Members, this plan was scrapped and at least now people will get it automatically. I welcome the fact that advertisements will be placed in the newspapers to rectify the matter and encourage people to come forward. However, I wonder whether it will stop there.

The Minister of State has cited history and of course Fianna Fáil is very good at re-writing history. He has blamed legislation going back over 30 years, which would obviously involve Labour and Fine Gael Ministers during that time. If the old legislation was a problem, why was the 2001 legislation approved? The Government cannot answer that question.

I hope I never have to deal with such an issue as this again. The treatment of old-age pensioners is disgraceful. It was clear from the legislation that health boards were not legally entitled to reduce the full eligibility of people over 70 or legally seek a contribution from them. Had this matter not been pursued in the Dáil by Deputy Kenny, when would the Department have taken action on the matter? Are other similar stories waiting to be uncovered in the Department? It is completely unacceptable that the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, did not read an 80-page document giving legal opinion on the issue. What steps will be taken to ensure this will not happen under the watch of the Tánaiste, Deputy Harney?

I resent the fact that we have been forced to sit an extra day this week to take legislation correcting a mistake made by the Government, who will now seek to penalise those people even further in Christmas week. The timing is all wrong and the image of a sharing and caring Government is truly dead, like the ghost of Christmas past.