CONTROVERSIAL TAX breaks introduced yesterday by the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, in the face of bitter Opposition attacks may save one of the country's leading hospices up to €8 million.
Marymount Hospice in Cork, which proposed the change to Ministers Mary Harney and Micheál Martin, will seek to fund much of its €60 million-plus redevelopment costs using the tax break. However, Mr Cowen faced sharp criticism from Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin yesterday when the issue was discussed during a Dáil debate on the Finance Bill.
Last night, chief executive of Marymount Hospice Kevin O'Dwyer told The Irish Times: "The Opposition seem to have got the wrong end of the stick on this one, I am afraid." Under the tax allowances scheme, which have already been used to build college buildings and hospitals, investors can write off up to 41 per cent of their investment against their tax bill.
However, Marymount is preparing to offer investors less, since it wants a share of the tax savings: "For every million, say, we would pay back €800,000," Mr O'Dwyer told The Irish Timeslast night.
The hospice is currently building a new home in Cork following its decision to put its existing Wellington Road property on the market.
The total bill is €75 million, though the Health Services Executive is paying €17.5 million. After the land sale, it is possible that Marymount will need to raise €30 million.
"There are gaps in the supply of and demand for palliative care facilities, which vary from region to region. I am putting this scheme in place to encourage private sector investment to fill some of those gaps but only where proposed developments of palliative care facilities are in line with the longer-term public health policy objectives in this area," said Mr Cowen.
New hospices would have to have more than 20 beds to qualify for the tax breaks, though two smaller hospices currently being built in Roscommon and Castlebar will qualify because they are being developed by a single board of management. Rejecting charges that the tax break is a pro-builders action, Mr Cowen said: "This is not the point at all. While I do not mind people having strong views on matters, I ask that they do not ascribe those sort of motivations to me."
Last night, the Irish Hospice Managers' Association said the change "does not involve the privatising of hospice care" since all future patients will be treated in exactly the same way as people are today. "While we would prefer if the State covered 100 per cent of capital costs, this does not happen. At most, hospices will receive 50 per cent of capital costs from the HSE. They then have to fundraise to cover the remaining costs."
Eugene Murray, of the Irish Hospice Foundation, said hospices currently get a block grant from the HSE and did not charge patients by the night. "I have seen the press releases from the Opposition. They are misinformed about this. The impetus came from the hospice, not anywhere else," he said.