Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 99: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her views on whether persons claiming for long stay charges that were illegally taken from them in public nursing homes are not entitled to the relief claimed or to any relief; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6130/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Government has agreed the key elements of a scheme for the repayment of long stay charges for publicly funded residential care. All those fully eligible persons who were wrongly charged and are alive and the estates of all those who were wrongly charged and died since 9 December 1998 will have the charges repaid in full. The repayments will include both the actual charge paid and an amount to take account of inflation using the consumer price index since the time the person involved was charged.

Draft heads of a Bill for a repayment scheme were submitted to Government in December and were approved. The draft heads have been submitted to Parliamentary Counsel for drafting and it is my intention to have the Bill published in the current parliamentary session and to have repayments commencing shortly after the Bill is approved and signed into law.

The scheme will be designed and managed with the aim of ensuring that those who are eligible for repayments receive them as soon as possible and with the minimum possible imposition in terms of bureaucracy. Priority will be given to those who are still alive. Many of those eligible for repayments have already been identified as a result of initial payments made following my announcement in December 2004. The scheme will include a transparent and thorough appeals process.