Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise two matters. Following on from Senator Bradford's contribution about nursing homes, the annual cost for the fair deal scheme is €993 million or very close to €1 billion. I have highlighted this issue previously in the House. We face major long-term challenges in this regard. Every year more than 20,000 people will reach the age of 65 and the number of over-65s will continue to grow in the future. We should have a debate about long-term planning in this area. I wish to highlight the problems faced by nursing homes in hiring nursing staff. People who want to work in this country are facing delays in being registered with An Bord Altranais, with delays in some cases of up to six months. This is an urgent matter.

I wish to raise an issue related to housing. A person known to me has applied for housing assist under the HAP scheme, which is assistance from the local authority. The person has been told that because one person in the household has an income and the other person is in receipt of social welfare their combined incomes do not qualify for assistance. However, the same local authority will not grant them assistance to buy a house because social welfare income is not taken into account when applying for a mortgage. They are caught in the middle. They will not be granted assistance because their combined incomes are too high but on the other hand they will not be given assistance because their income is under-qualified.

We need a resolution to this problem. These people are trying to provide for themselves and their family and the system is not providing for them. They either fit into one category or the other but in this case they are fitting into neither. This is wrong and they are being sidelined by the system. The irregularity needs to be resolved. I ask the Leader to bring it to the attention of the Minister. I intend following up on the matter but it would be helpful if the Leader would also bring it to the attention of the Minister.