Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

Nobody was happy with that scenario. We should learn from those mistakes. If people have been wronged they deserve compensation. The last thing we need is for taxpayers to be doubly punished by large legal teams capitalising on the issue.

The Supreme Court ruled that there is nothing wrong with having charges for long-term care. I do not know any political party that would quibble with that and I hope none of them would. However, the court found that there was no statutory basis for charges to be levied.

It is worth noting the efforts to which the Fine Gael Party went in order to resolve the issue. Last October, Deputy Perry questioned the Taoiseach about the matter in the Dáil. The Taoiseach consistently skirted around the issue. At the time the State's liability was estimated to be €100 million. We finally reached a breakthrough on 8 December in response to questions from Deputy Kenny. The Tánaiste admitted that primary legislation was being urgently drafted to clarify the legality of payments made by pensioners towards their care in nursing homes.

It is clear that a new Bill is required. This has been mooted in the newspapers. The Tánaiste referred to a Bill of entitlements.