Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The fair deal scheme at its heart should be fair. We know from speaking to small business owners and farming families that the scheme is not fair to them.Whereas the contribution by the private dwelling house towards nursing home care is capped at three years, the charge put against the family farm or small business continues for the entirety of the person's stay in a nursing home. The 7% is deducted annually, meaning that someone who is in nursing home care for up to 14 years will lose the farm completely. That is not something that anyone wants to see.

The scheme's true impact is that older people are not going into nursing home care when they need to. This is not because of greed or a desire to hold on. Rather, it is because they fear they will lose everything that they have worked to build and put together over their lives - the family farms and small businesses that are their legacies – and that they want to hand on to the next generation. The fear of losing their legacies is putting pressure on elderly people at a stage in their lives when they must make a choice and should not have such stress. They are choosing not to go into nursing home care because of their fear that their farms or small businesses will not be there to hand on to the next generation. That is the crux of the issue.

A promise has been given to make changes. There is a proposal on the table to cap the contribution made by the family farm or small business to nursing home care at three years. That would be a fair outcome. The Minister of State has committed to delivering on this promise and many farming families and small business owners across the country are waiting and hoping to see its delivery in the near future. I hope that the Minister of State will be the one to give the good news.