Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 1: In page 4, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following:

"2.--Notwithstanding anything in this Act, a property which has been the family home or principal residence of any person who is in residential nursing home care immediately prior to their admission to such residential nursing home or other residential care facility, shall not be subject of any charge, save and except in circumstances where that property has subsequently been let to a third party.".

This amendment speaks for itself. It arises from the concern that I and many other Senators raised regarding the anomaly in the Bill which would ensure that a charge would apply to the family home of a person, most likely an elderly person, who might have to be admitted to a nursing home for residential care. As the nursing home would be considered under the Bill to be the person's primary residence, we believe the matter of the family home must be addressed in the legislation to ensure a charge does not apply to it.

Late in the debate on Committee Stage the Minister undertook to review this aspect of the Bill. Everybody agrees that it was not the intent of the Bill to apply a charge in those circumstances. However, that does not take away from the fact that the Bill as drafted permits the charge to be levied. Fine Gael believes this is unacceptable. There are thousands of elderly people throughout the country in this situation. Obviously they face the high costs of nursing home care and to have this further charge imposed on them and their estate would cause unnecessary stress, a headache at local level for the local authorities that propose to collect it, and uproar in the community. That is unacceptable.

Fine Gael has framed the amendment to assist the Minister on this matter. The amendment acknowledges that where the family home is let, the charge should apply, which is reasonable. Fine Gael has been reasonable in tabling this amendment. I would hate to see the Bill leave the House without an amendment to remove any likely charge on the family homes of people in nursing homes. It would be remiss of the House to allow that to happen. It was clear from yesterday's debate that there is general cross-party support for the Bill and the concept of raising revenue through a charge on second homes. It provides for a new revenue stream for local authorities, which is welcome. However, we must be careful when drafting legislation. Rushed legislation is not good legislation. This Bill appears to have been rushed to a degree and does not appear to have been fully considered, which is why there are anomalies in it.

I look forward to the Minister's comments on this matter. Fine Gael intends to protect elderly people who must go into nursing homes by ensuring that this charge will not apply to their family homes.