Swift repayment of illegal nursing home fees promised

Over 60,000 repayments are to be made for illegal nursing homes fees under a scheme the Tánaiste has promised will be "swift" and "uncomplicated".

Around 20,000 people still living, and the families of a further 50,000-60,000 people who died after December 1998, will benefit from the €1 billion scheme.

Publishing the Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006 today, Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney said those still alive would be prioritised.

The estates of people illegally charged prior to December 9 ^th1998 will not be refunded in line with last year's Supreme Court judgement.

The repayments will include any monies incorrectly decducted or charged and an amount in line with inflation over the calculable period. Payments to the living will be tax exempt and will not affect any benefits.

The Bill also provides for those eligible to forego their payment and instead have the money assigned to paying for one-off service improvements for older persons and persons with a disability.

Ms Harney said: "The scheme will ensure that repayments can be made swiftly to those eligible for repayment following the completion of an uncomplicated application process."

Opposition parties gave the bill a general welcome but expressed deep reservations about the plan to outsource the administration of the scheme. They also criticised the delay in bringing forward the legislation.

Fine Gael health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey said it was "shameful" that bill was published 13 months after the Supreme Court ruled that deductions from long-stay residents of nursing homes to pay for their upkeep was unconstitutional.

Dr Twomey noted the Department of Agriculture oversaw the disbursement of Single Farm Payments worth €980 to 110,600 farmers in a single week last year "demonstrating clearly that the Irish public sector can handle significant payment schemes".

Labour's Liz McManus agreed, saying there was sufficient expertise within the Health Services Executive (HSE) to manage the repayments.

She expressed particular concern that consultancy firms had tendered "exorbitant quotes", reportedly as high as €50 million, to administer the scheme.

"It is essential that the process of repaying these illegal charges does not become yet another cash cow for private consultants," Ms McManus said.