Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I am well aware that some of what is contained in section 3 was introduced when my party was in Government because that is the usual defence, but I believe it to be the wrong way to go. We are showing a level of defensiveness that will create the equivalent of a moral panic over the population gradually and gently getting older. I invite someone to explain why this rigmarole must be introduced. Does it mean if we have a sudden explosion in the birthrate we will charge people for the use of maternity hospitals? The fundamental issue is universalism. Effectively, this states most of our old people must pay for their nursing homes and the Government intends they should. It may have been necessary in days of hardship. However, this decision is based on an unwillingness and not an inability to resource.

I will not call a vote on this but I want to put on the record it is ungenerous to a degree which Irish society will come to regret. It imposes a complicated process on people at the latter end of their lives who, by definition, need support. It is a complicated bureaucratic process full of pitfalls. It assumes people on the margins of requiring nursing home care will be able to fill in forms. It is not worthy of a country as well-off as ours. I am not particularly concerned about who originated it or from where it came. It is unworthy of us.