Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People Jim Daly has said that “what if” scenarios and legal issues are delaying changes to the Fair Deal Scheme.
The scheme is set to undergo revisions, whereby a three-year cap will be put on contributions for the scheme, which aims to offset nursing home fees for elderly family members.
Currently, a three-year cap exists on most domestic families, but not where family businesses – including farms – are concerned.
In July 2018, cabinet gave its approval for draft legislation to apply the cap on farms and businesses, but in a Seanad debate last week, Deputy Daly said that the change is being delayed by legal issues that, he claimed, might see the bill scuppered in a court challenge.
The heads of the Bill are being drafted by my officials. A number of legal issues and anomalies have arisen and a number of “what if” scenarios have been brought to our attention. We have to get the legislation right as we do not want it challenged in the courts.
“We do not want the legislation to be inequitable; we want it to be as fair as it can be. We are working on those challenges behind the scenes, but I am hopeful the draft heads will be approved by the Government by the end of the year,” said Daly.
Daly was answering questions from Senator Robbie Gallagher, who said: “It is important this proposed legislation is introduced and that the scheme is adapted to ensure a burden is not placed on small farms and small businesses.”
Putting off decisions
Gallagher also raised his concern that some people will put off the decision to enter a nursing home, until such time that the contribution was capped, in order to ease the financial burden on their families.
In response to this, Daly claimed that the cap would be retrospective, saying it would apply to anyone who has been in the system for three years.
There is no gain for anyone in delaying entering nursing home care as there will be a retrospective aspect to the legislation.
“As such, a person debating about going into a nursing home or waiting for a change, should of course go in. I hope that any older person will make that decision as soon as care is necessitated because he or she will, in any event, have to meet the 7.5% contribution for three year,” he said.
“We can presume with reasonable confidence that this legislation will be well wrapped up within that three years,” added Daly.