Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 147: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the situation regarding illegal nursing home charges in so far as it applies to persons who were not considered [i]compos mentis[/i]; if she will confirm that the Statute of Limitations does not apply to such persons; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12293/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006 was published on 16 March 2006 and will be brought before the Houses of the Oireachtas in the coming weeks. This Bill will provide the statutory basis for a national repayment scheme for the repayment of long stay charges for publicly funded residential care to those fully eligible persons who were wrongly charged.

Under the scheme, all those fully eligible persons, including those not considered compos mentis who were wrongly charged and are alive, will have the charges repaid in full. The estates of all those fully eligible persons, including those not considered compos mentis who were wrongly charged and died in the six years prior to 9 December 2004, the date on which the former health boards were instructed to cease charging, will have the charges repaid in full. The scheme will not allow for repayments to the estates of those who died more than six years prior to this date.

The decision to limit repayments to the estates of those who died in the six years prior to 9 December 2004 reflects the reference in the Supreme Court judgment to the Statute of Limitations that the State has available to it the Statute of Limitations, namely, a six year limit. The Government has a responsibility to have regard to what the Supreme Court said in order to limit the scale of total repayment that today's taxpayer would otherwise need to fund. I am satisfied that the scheme strikes a fair balance in this regard.