Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being in the House to take this very important Commencement debate on the fair deal scheme, which is a good scheme when it works but for farm families and the families of small business owners the system is anything but fair. I welcome the support the Minister of State has given on ensuring that elderly people can stay at home and access extra home care hours. It is very important to do everything we can to avoid older people having to go into nursing homes. Some people will still need to have extra care that cannot be provided at home. It is very traumatic for any family when someone has to go into a nursing home to receive that level of care. It is made even worse when the family runs the risk of losing a family farm or business to pay for necessary care. We can imagine the anxiety it causes to older people and their families.

While fair deal is a lifeline for many, farmers and small business owners have been treated very harshly under the current conditions of the scheme. As we know, under the scheme an annual levy of 7.5% on farmland applies to all elderly farmers for every year they avail of long-term nursing care. For most people, this 7.5% per annum levy is limited to the first three years of the nursing home care but farmers and business owners face indefinite contributions on their assets, which in some cases threatens the very viability of their farm or business. This clearly discriminates against the agricultural community and causes terrible hardship for young farmers who hope to inherit farmland. It renders non-viable many farm holdings in rural Ireland. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. A review was done in 2015 but the previous Government did not do anything in response to it. The matter is now under the watch of the Minister of State and I hope she will be able to do something about it.