Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Bill will update and replace existing arrangements for charging for long-stay inpatient services other than acute hospital care or services covered under the fair deal nursing home support scheme. The Bill essentially continues existing arrangements for people in a range of residential settings who contribute towards the cost of their maintenance. The Bill is putting these arrangements into a modernised and simplified legal framework, which is not designed to generate any additional revenue.

When the Bill was introduced in the Seanad the following key points about this modernised framework were highlighted. There will be a continuing requirement to pay an appropriate and affordable contribution which would be in line with current long-stay charges towards the maintenance of accommodation costs to the State of providing such services. The maximum level of the current long-stay charge is just below 80% of the non-contributory State pension and the maximum contribution will remain at this level. The actual contribution will depend, as now, on the individual's income level. The exemptions that currently apply to long-stay charges will continue to apply to residential support services, maintenance and accommodation contributions. The HSE will continue to have discretion to reduce the level of contribution required to avoid undue financial hardship depending on individual circumstances, the extent to which they provide to their own maintenance and their assessed needs. These contributions will apply to all those provided with residential care by or on behalf of the HSE other than those covered by the nursing home support scheme and other acute hospital care.

Section 19 will essentially put various existing arrangements into a more simplified, modernised legal framework and there is no proposal to generate any additional revenue in that regard.