Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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524. To ask the Minister for Health the definition of a business asset regarding the reform of the fair deal scheme and the capping of financial contributions based on farm and business assets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26375/21]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Nursing Homes Support Scheme, commonly referred to as the Fair Deal Scheme, has been in operation for over 10 years and there is broad agreement that the Scheme operates well and continues to provide appropriate financial assistance where it is required.

However, it is recognised that the Act, in its current form, does not place caps on the financial assessment of family owned and operated farms or businesses when calculating the means to pay for nursing home care, except in cases where an applicant requires nursing home care due to sudden illness or disability. This places a potentially onerous burden on family successors and could challenge the future viability of these productive assets.

Therefore, the Department of Health has proposed a policy change to the Scheme, to cap contributions based on farm and business assets at three years where a family successor commits to working the productive asset. The stated policy objective of the legislation is to introduce additional safeguards in the Scheme to further protect the viability and sustainability of family farms and businesses that will be passed down to the next generation of the family to continue to work them as productive assets to provide for their livelihood.

The definition of relevant business in the 2021 Bill is unchanged from the existing definition in the Principal Act. It has been altered only to remove the qualification that the definition is solely relevant in the context of applicants with relevant businesses who enter care because of sudden illness or disability. All persons with a relevant business can now qualify for the 3-year cap on contributions to the cost of care based on the value of the business, provided that they comply with all of the conditions of the scheme. 

For the purposes of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill, a relevant business means—

 (a) the business or an interest in a business carried on by a sole trader or by a partnership, including any land, building, machinery or plant used wholly or mainly for the purpose of the business, or

(b) where a business is carried on by a company, the unquoted shares in or securities of the company, and a reference to a relevant business includes a reference to part of a relevant business.