Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for coming to the House. I join other speakers in welcoming the progress of this legislation. There has been campaigning for these provisions for a number of years. The Minister of State ran with the issue and has delivered on it inside a year. That is what a good politician does.

I have a number of questions on the provisions contained in the Bill. Assuming the legislation is passed in the Seanad by tomorrow and goes on to receive the presidential signature, on what date is it expected to be enacted? For somebody who is already in a nursing home and who appoints a successor, will the time that person has spent in care be taken into account? For example, if a person in that situation has been in a nursing home for two years, will that time count in the calculations? I am conscious there are particular criteria around eligibility and there is a plan for a five-year review. It may be the case that when the scheme is up and running, issues will arise. Is there the possibility of having a review sooner than in five years' time?

It is important we have a debate at some stage on the broader question of care for elderly people. Our elderly care model needs to support more opportunities for people to be able to live independently. The discussion needs to go beyond the traditional nursing home model to look at ways in which older people can live within the community. We also must accept we are an ageing society and we need to adapt everything we do because of that. The facilities and resources must be in place to accommodate that. A statistic that struck me in recent times was that one in five teenagers today will live to the age of 100 and one in three babies born this year will live to that age. We must start thinking about a society in which people are living for much longer and in which more people are elderly.

These are big challenges but I have no doubt, given what the Minister of State has been able to achieve in a year, not just in regard to older people but also in the area of mental health, that she will be able to achieve much more over the next four years. I hope she will be able to address some of the major issues to which I referred. I strongly support the legislation and join other speakers in commending the Minister of State and thanking her for her work.