Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. He is correct that it is something I have spoken about and worked on very hard over the past few years. Since I entered office, we have been working hard on this.

The nursing homes support scheme, NHSS, commonly referred to as fair deal, is a system of financial support for people who require long-term residential care. Participants contribute to the cost of their care according to their means while the State pays the balance of the cost. The scheme aims to ensure that long-term nursing home care is accessible and affordable for everyone and that people are cared for in the most appropriate settings. The fair deal scheme has been in operation for more than ten years and has supported many thousands of older people through what can be a particularly vulnerable time in their lives. The current average wait time on the placement list is four weeks. This is in line with the commitment made in the HSE's national service plan and has been maintained throughout the year. The funding allocated to the NHSS of €1.07 billion for 2020 is considered to be sufficient to maintain the waiting list at target levels until the end of the year.

While recognising that there will still be a need for nursing home care, the Government is making significant efforts to reduce the number of NHSS users through increased investment in community rehabilitation beds and home care, including an additional 5 million hours in budget 2021. The scheme works on the basis that the State will support people who need financial assistance to enter residential care when they need to and that those who have more, pay more, and those who have less, pay less. The Government believes that the principles of affordability and accessibility that underpin the scheme continue to be valid and may be even more so in these extremely challenging times.

The scheme has been reviewed by many different interested parties, including, most recently, the Comptroller and Auditor General. While many recommendations have been made both about the operation and the administration of the scheme, there is broad agreement that the scheme operates well and continues to be subject to appropriate financial assessment where it is required.

However, it is recognised that the Act in its current form does not place caps on the financial assessment of family farms or family businesses. As the Senator pointed out, this has proven difficult for farm families and small businesses. The 7.5% cap that applies for three years if somebody has a residential home does not apply in the case of small businesses and farmers and it has proven difficult. This places an onerous burden on successors and could challenge the future viability of the family farm. The Department of Health has proposed, therefore, a policy change to the scheme, to cap contributions based on farm and business assets at three years where a family successor commits to working the productive asset. This change has been approved by Government. The Department of Health developed draft heads of the Bill while considering a number of complex ancillary policy and operational matters that may need to be addressed in the proposed legislation. The stated policy objective of the general scheme is to introduce further safeguards in the scheme to protect the viability and sustainability of family farms and businesses that will be passed down to the next generation of the family to continue to work them as productive assets to provide for them their livelihood.

We come to the crux of the matter. The general scheme was sent to the relevant joint committee and the Department participated in pre-legislative scrutiny on 13 November 2019. Unfortunately, a report was not published before the dissolution of the previous Dáil. In the interim, of course, it was necessary to divert resources towards the immediate and pressing challenges of Covid-19. I had a meeting last week with departmental officials and the Department has been in touch with the clerk to the Business Committee on the procedural issues relating to pre-legislative scrutiny. I have also written to the Ceann Comhairle on this matter so that the legislation can progress as quickly as possible. There has been ongoing and active engagement with the Office of the Attorney General on the legislative development process and progress is advancing. The Government intends to bring forward legislation to the Houses as soon as possible. This legislation will seek to safeguard the sustainability of family farms and businesses for future generations.

To recap briefly, the pre-legislative scrutiny was being conducted last year. The report had not been finalised before the Dáil fell. Oireachtas committees have been back up and running for the past two months but there are various pressures on different committees. I have written to the Ceann Comhairle to see if we can waive the need for the pre-legislative scrutiny report in order I can move the legislation through the Dáil and the Seanad. The scrutiny can then be done at Committee Stage. That is where we are at the moment but I am hopeful of moving it in the first quarter of 2021.