Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 351: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the assessment of a person for nursing home subvention in relation to the value of their residence; if a house as valued under figures provided in budget 2006 will no longer be taken into account when assessing an applicant's eligibility for nursing home subvention; and if she will make statement on the matter. [1333/06]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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The nursing home subvention scheme was introduced in 1993 on foot of the Nursing Homes (Subvention) Regulations 1993, which were made under section 7 of the Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990. These regulations laid down the criteria for assessing a person's eligibility for subvention, as well as the maximum amounts of subvention that may be paid to an eligible person.

The Nursing Home (Subvention) Regulations 1993 are administered by the Health Service Executive. There are three rates of subvention payable for three levels of dependency, namely, medium at €114.30, high at €152.40 and maximum at €190.50. Included in these payments is an increase of 25% which came into effect in April 2001. These rates remain in effect and were unchanged on budget day.

The HSE may pay more than the maximum rate of subvention relative to an individual's level of dependency in a case, for example, where personal funds are exhausted. The application of these provisions in an individual case is a matter for the HSE in the context of meeting increasing demands for subvention subject to the provisions of the Health Act 2004. The average rate of subvention paid by the HSE generally exceeds the current approved basic rates. Additional funding of €20 million was provided for the administration of the scheme for 2006, bringing the total available budget to €160 million.

Certain thresholds were set in the 1993 regulations relating to the means and assets of a person applying for a subvention. These thresholds had not been updated since they were set in 1993. Amendment regulations, the Nursing Homes (Subvention) (Amendment) Regulations 2005, altered thresholds set in the 1993 regulations. These amendments increased the threshold of assets to be disregarded for the purposes of subvention assessment from £6,000, €7,618, to €11,000 and those above which subvention may be refused from £20,000, €25,394, to €36,000. They also increased the threshold of principal residence value above which subvention may be refused from £75,000, €95,230, to €500,000 or more where the residence is located in the Dublin area or €300,000 or more where the residence is located outside the Dublin area, provided that the applicant's income is greater than €9,000, previously £5,000 or €6,349.

The HSE continues to retain the discretion to impute an income of 5% of the estimated market value of the principal residence of an applicant for subvention, unless the residence is occupied by a spouse or a son or daughter aged less than 21 years or in full-time education or in receipt of the disabled person's maintenance allowance, blind person's pension, disability benefit, invalidity pension or old age non-contributory pension and generally does so save in exceptional circumstances. However, the residence value above which the HSE may automatically refuse to pay a subvention has been increased substantially, as outlined, to take account of increased property values.

The amendment regulations were signed by the Tánaiste on 14 December 2005 and were effective in law from that date. Under section 14 of the Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990, once the regulations are made, they must be laid before each House of the Oireachtas, either of which can pass a resolution to annul the regulations within the next 21 days on which the House sits.

Following the publication of the Mercer report on the future financing of long-term care in Ireland, a working group chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach and comprising senior officials from the Departments of Finance, Health and Children and Social and Family Affairs was established. The objective of this group was to identify the policy options for a financially sustainable system of long-term care, taking account of the Mercer report, the views of the consultation that was undertaken on that report and the review of the nursing home subvention scheme by Professor Eamon O'Shea. The report of the group has been submitted to Government.