Ahern denies nursing fees 'fraud' claim

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has dismissed suggestions that legal actions for "State fraud and cover-up" could be taken against the Government over the scheme to refund illegally charged residents of publicly-funded nursing homes.

Plans to reimburse some 22,000 long-stay residents and at least 40,000 families of deceased residents were announced yesterday.

Mr Ahern estimated the scheme would cost at least €850 million and up to €1 billion, and he defended former health minister Micheál Martin when Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said Mr Martin should have lost his job in the nursing homes controversy.

Mr Ahern said it was "nonsense" to claim that €1 billion could have been saved if Mr Martin had resolved the issue in the past year or two. "If it had been sorted out a year ago, it might have cost €800 million as opposed to €850 million." Mr Ahern also warned that while the Government was dealing with the matter as carefully as possible, this "does not protect from the possibility of people taking cases or actions under some particular area".

He did not envisage "a great amount" in compensation being paid before the end of the year because the required legislation is not due to reach the Dáil and Seanad until the autumn.

"However it [the scheme] should be up and running on a full-year basis next year to deal with claims," he said. It was likely to take a long time, he added.

Raising the nursing homes charges issue, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny queried the introduction of the statute of limitations, which will curtail payments to the last six years. Mr Kenny asked how certain the Taoiseach was that the scheme would stand up to scrutiny, given that the Government knew in 1987 that the charges were illegal and the previous administration had a proposal to deal with this.

"Is there no likelihood of claims that the Government was involved in a fraudulent cover-up?" he asked. Mr Ahern said there was "no question of fraud in the judgment of the Supreme Court".

Mr Ahern said he would "resist the temptation to go back to 1976 and talk about all those involved in this issue", in reference to the then Fine Gael-led coalition government.

The Taoiseach said that the six year rule would not generally apply for "persons of unsound mind because they were not in a position to deal with this situation".

Mr Rabbitte claimed Mr Martin was politically accountable for the controversy. "Your only defence is that you did not read the briefing document," he said to Mr Martin. "Now we know that Mr Kelly [former general secretary of the Department of Health] lost his job but that it is you who should have lost your job,"

Mr Rabbitte asserted. "If you had an ounce of respect for your office, you would now tender your resignation," he said. But an angry Mr Martin retorted that there was a conflict of evidence in the documents deputy Rabbitte was referring to and that the Labour Party leader "has only one agenda in this matter".

Mr Rabbitte said that in an email which was not included in the Travers report on the controversy, a civil servant said it was her understanding that a submission on the issue was about to be given to the Minister.

Mr Ahern said however that it was "nonsense" for deputy Rabbitte to make a political point that if all of this had been resolved in the last year or two what had happened since 1976 would not have arisen. Mr Ahern said the cost would have been €800 million rather than €850 million.