Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. My question concerns the public perception of the fair deal scheme, which was set up in 2009. The structure was that people would pay 80% of their pension or income and 5% of their assets for a maximum of three years. That was subsequently raised to 7.5% of assets. The scheme has been operating for over seven years and this year will cost around €970 million. I welcome the allocation in the past two or three weeks of an additional €42 million. We intend to publish a paper on the review of the scheme but the perception is that the State is taking back quite a lot of funds from estates and it is important that the correct figures are available.

I also have a concern, which is not directly in the Minister of State's remit, that there is a perception that the three year cut-off point does not apply to people from the business and farming communities who end up in a nursing home under the fair deal scheme. One family I know is paying over €2,500 a month for the support of the mother in a nursing home and there is no end to that because of the valuation of her assets. My understanding is that she has MS, an illness that will not change and will probably deteriorate in the coming years. While there are some issues concerning the fair deal scheme, it is important that the public has the correct information.