Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming here to speak on a very important topic, the nursing home support scheme, commonly known as the fair deal scheme. Over the years my office and I have been helping many people to get around the complexities of the fair deal scheme. It is only when one has to avail of the scheme that one becomes aware of it as I did when my mother was in hospital and had to go into a nursing home.At that time, I went to government buildings in Roscommon and the assistance, information and guidance I got from the staff there was absolutely fantastic. It is probably the same around the country. Applying for the fair deal scheme is a very daunting experience but the staff will help people in every way. I pay tribute to the people who were there to help me and my family. My mother is now in the Plunkett nursing home in Boyle and we are absolutely delighted. She was self-employed in business all her life and we really feel the State was there to support her when she was 89. I hope it is the same for everybody else. We are absolutely delighted with the assistance we got. Most of our older people signal the desire to remain in their homes as long as they are able to do so. We also availed of home help of half an hour a day and it was very successful. The people providing home help are unsung heroes. When one needs that it is very welcome. My mother and her family are very thankful.

Yesterday, in my office in Roscommon, I was dealing with the plight of a farm family facing very difficult challenges trying to meet the cost of nursing home care for their elderly father. The stress for the wife and children of trying to meet the huge costs of care was tangible. It was sad to see this hardworking family faced with this worry of how to pay considerable nursing home bills. Theirs is not an isolated example but representative of a large proportion of farm families who worked hard all their lives and are now worried the cost of nursing home care will leave them with nothing. I commend the work of the Minister of State in giving farm families a strong voice in this regard. The Minister of State has met farming representatives and discussed their concerns about the fair deal scheme. The fair deal scheme is a system of financial support where there is a need for long-term nursing home care. Participants contribute to the cost of their care according to their income and assets while the State pays the balance of their costs. We will never get it right but we try to get a fair balance. At the moment, farm families feel discriminated against because there is no cap on the 7.5% of farm and business assets contribution to nursing home care. The 7.5% is charged every year for as long as care is provided. However, I am pleased to learn that this now looks as if it will change and in that respect I welcome the Minister of State's proposal to cap the 7.5% contribution from farm and business assets for nursing home care at three years as is the case for family homes. We were not in that situation but it is something I have listened to over the years from people coming in who had serious concerns. I hope this will come to pass.

The cap is subject to a transfer between family members who are actively participating and working in the business, as is currently the case under the sudden illness clause. These proposed changes will dramatically reduce the financial burden facing elderly people and their loved ones. The removal of the uncapped liability on farm assets will help alleviate the worries of farm families.

It is important to remind ourselves that commitments in the programme for Government are being delivered upon and this is one of them. The programme for Government fully committed to reviewing the fair deal scheme to remove any discrimination against small businesses and family farms. There is clear progress being made on this front. I come from a small business family and there was a time when we made money but most businesses have lost virtually everything over the years, especially as a result of the recession. One thing people do not fully realise is that many self-employed people did not have a pension per se. Their pensions were bank shares. Most business owners were advised by bank managers to buy AIB and Bank of Ireland shares. It was not speculating; it was the way business people and farmers looked at pensions. They would get a dividend which would be their pension. They lost everything. People talk about the property crash and jobs but this was a huge issue for self-employed people. If people were in the public service, their pensions were maintained but the pension pots of these people were gone because they bought shares for €12 or €15 which then went down to nothing. Most of them have lost their security. Not only did they lose businesses or the value of their property, but they lost their pension funds. It is not an issue too many people have addressed. I can say that of most of the people I knew who were in business. It was not speculation but a way of looking at pensions. Perhaps it was not the right way of looking at pensions but it was one way of looking at them. Who would have thought that blue chip shares in our two main banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, would not be there? It is something we should talk about again.

I am also encouraged that the HSE has also made provision for the estimated costs of these changes in its budget 2018 submission. The programme for the fair deal scheme is quite exciting and we need to support it.

I am aware the Minister is awaiting a legal opinion from the Attorney General on the proposed changes to the fair deal scheme before he can bring them before Cabinet for approval as the changes will require an amendment to the Nursing Home Support Scheme Act 2009. It is very clear the Government is committed to addressing the very real concerns of farm families and businesses across the country.