Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak about amendment No. 4, in my name, and also the amendments of the Minister of State. I thank the Minister of State for her engagement on this issue. It dates back nearly to the time of the original nursing home support scheme, which dates from 2009. Very soon after the enactment of the legislation on the nursing home support scheme, we found an anomaly concerning family businesses and family farms. A huge financial burden was being placed on families as a result. We are all well aware of cases in this regard. I am aware of one not too far from where I live, in an adjoining county. It involves a man with a very successful dairy farm whose wife, sadly, contracted a long-term illness and ended up in long-term nursing home care as a very young woman. The man, who has a young family, has had to sell off parts of his farm to pay the nursing home bill. The amendment introduced in 2021 was to address the anomaly, not just for family farms but also for family businesses. The anomaly jeopardised the viability of many family businesses by burdening the owners with the cost of the nursing home as well as the day-to-day operational costs of the business.

There is a very significant commitment tied to this in that the person designated as taking over the farm or business has to run it for the next six years. That is a very substantial commitment. The difficulty arose very quickly after the amendment was made, which I remember. I was dealing with the case of an individual whose second cousin once removed, or the son of a second cousin, the man’s nearest living blood relative, had taken over the operation of a farm and was rearing a young family on it. He took it over on the basis of the provision coming in and I assured him that the legislation was robust regarding the matter because it clearly stated in black and white that the person taking over the land had to be either the partner of the person in long-term care or a relative. Not only did the individual comply with this but he was actually the nearest living relative of the person in long-term care. The legislation went further because it implied not only that the individual was eligible but also that his spouse was eligible. A difficulty has arisen because the HSE has taken a very rigid interpretation of the law.

I did not raise this case at the time, in 2021, because the law then provided for it. Sadly, although I realise the Minister of State’s intention is to expand the definition already in primary legislation, the amendment she is proposing is in fact restricting it. The difficulty is that the interpretation of the HSE is very different from that in black-and-white legislation, causing great hardship for the family I referred to, who have now been paying a substantial fee for long-term nursing home care every single week for over six years.

A second case involves a first cousin once removed who will be eligible under the new restricted definition. However, in my amendment I have tried to redraft what was set out in the original legislation, enacted in this House in October 2021, making reference to a relative. I want to see the cases of the small number of individuals affected, where they comply with the other very rigid provisions in this legislation, dealt with. This legislation goes far further than what is set out by the Revenue Commissioners as the responsibility to farm the land. According to the Revenue Commissioners, one must commit to farming the land for the subsequent five years. In this legislation, the period is six years. The difficulty is that should something happen to an individual, such as passing away or illness that makes him or her no longer able to farm, the clock starts again. A very limited and finite number of people can avail of the relief, but, sadly, a small cohort of unmarried people with land in rural Ireland are caught in that they do not have any siblings and therefore no nieces or nephews, meaning they have to look to first and second cousins. In the case in question, the cousins are the ones who have taken over the day-to-day operation of the farm and who took care of the older person until they went into long-term nursing care, yet they are being penalised. While the HSE’s interpretation and the Government’s original legislation did allow for first cousins, the difficulty is that, if we ask a 79-year-old man to take over and commit to farming the land for the next six years for his 83-year-old first cousin who has gone into nursing home care, it will not work.

I welcome the Minister of State’s engagement and thank her for her assistance to date. Reluctantly, though, I have significant reservations about the restrictions that are being proposed. They are being forced upon us because of the HSE’s interpretation of legislation that was passed in 2021 with a specific purpose.

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