Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
2594. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Health if the recently announced reforms to the nursing home support scheme include any distinction between land which is farmed versus land which is leased; if so, the different treatments that would apply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38300/21]
View answer2595. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Health if children of farmers that inherit land from a parent who has land and entitlements leased to a non-relative under the tax incentive scheme are to be afforded the same proposed three year capping at 7.5% as other inheritors whose parents did not lease out land under the recently announced reforms to the nursing home support scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38301/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 2594 and 2595 together.
The Nursing Homes Support Scheme, commonly referred to as the Fair Deal Scheme, has been in operation for over 10 years and there is broad agreement that the Scheme operates well and continues to provide appropriate financial assistance where it is required.
However, it is recognised that the Act, as it was, did not place caps on the financial assessment of family owned and operated farms or businesses when calculating the means to pay for nursing home care. This placed a potentially onerous burden on family successors and could challenge the future viability of these productive assets.
Therefore, the Department of Health proposed a policy change to the Scheme, to cap contributions based on farm and business assets at three years where an appointed family successor commits to working the productive asset for a period of 6 years. To be considered for the 3-year cap, the proposed legislation requires that an asset owned by an applicant for the Scheme, or recently transferred to a family member, is a productive family asset that has been actively worked by a family member for a significant period of time in advance of the person entering care.
Where an applicant retired and ceased working the farm or business themselves prior to entering long-term care, it is expected that their partner or a family successor will have taken over from them. In order to acknowledge the fact that many older people will have reduced their engagement in the family farm or business, but that a successor may not have taken over immediately, it is only required that the farm or business was worked by the applicant, their partner, or a family successor, for three of the five years preceding admission to long-term care, and this time need not be continuous.
Although land mobility has been a policy objective of various agricultural reliefs since the 1990s, the policy intent of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme is to protect family farms and businesses that will remain within the family as a source of employment and income into the future, and to ensure the future viability of these productive assets. This policy would not be advanced if income from leasing arrangements was included in the cap.
There is no prohibition of leasing arrangements in the Bill and individuals who lease their farms can continue to avail of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme. However, as previously stated, assets that are leased will not be covered by the reliefs provided for under the new Act and both the value of these assets and the income derived from the leasing arrangements will continue to be assessed as part of the financial assessment for the scheme.
I am pleased to say that the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill has now passed all stages of the Dáil and Seanad, and was enacted last week. The Act is required to come into operation 90 days from its enactment; in October 2021.
