Nursing home refunds will need law

Legislation will be required to implement the Government scheme to reimburse residents of State-funded nursing homes who were illegally charged for their accommodation, the Dáil was told.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the Bill would take some time to prepare. "I do not think it will be before the House this session, but it will be ready by the summer," he said. He told Fine Gael's deputy leader Richard Bruton that the Cabinet had made a decision yesterday on the planned scheme and that details would be published today.

"Legislation will be required to bring in the scheme to process all the applications," he said.

Later there were sharp exchanges between the Ceann Comhairle, Dr Rory O'Hanlon and Labour leader Pat Rabbitte over the "burying" of legislation drawn up in the 1980s to deal with the nursing-home charges.

Mr Rabbitte said that legislation to tackle the issue "ran into the ground during the government of 1987-89" and he asked the Taoiseach to urge the ministers involved at the time, taoiseach and ministers for health and finance, to appear before the health committee and co-operate with its examination of the Travers report.

But Dr O'Hanlon, the minister for health at the time, said that the independent advice of the clerk sought by the committee was that it would be "inappropriate to invite a sitting Ceann Comhairle to attend before it".

On that basis "an invitation was never extended to me to attend the committee. Should such an invitation have been received I would have been obliged to consider the matter in the light of advice and precedents."

Mr Rabbitte said, however, that he had not asked the Ceann Comhairle but the Taoiseach if he would urge the co-operation of the "three people who buried the legislation in 1987".

When the Ceann Comhairle said the issue had been dealt with, Mr Rabbitte persisted and said that "€2 billion of taxpayers' money is involved and the three ministers are in good health".

Mr Ahern said that if Deputy Rabbitte was asking whether former Labour and Fine Gael health ministers Brendan Howlin and Michael Noonan, as well as former taoiseach Charles Haughey and former finance minister Ray MacSharry and others "want to be invited before the committee, that is a matter for the committee and I am sure the people will answer".

He added, however, that as far as previous committees were involved "former taoisigh have taken a position. There is a recent precedent where one stated that he was out of the House and would not deal with it."