My Department is studying the Supreme Court judgment in detail and will take on board all the consequences for policy and law arising from it. A special Cabinet sub-committee comprising the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, the Attorney General, Mr. Brady, and myself has been established to consider the issue of repayment in light of the judgment.
Persons who were in publicly contracted beds in private nursing homes are covered by the terms of the Supreme Court judgment. The Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990 regulates the private nursing home sector. Under the nursing home subvention regulations, the HSE is empowered to make a financial contribution to an individual towards the cost of his or her private nursing home care provided he or she qualifies on means and dependency grounds. In the case of private nursing home care the contract of care is between the individual and the private nursing home owner. Accordingly, the provisions of the Supreme Court judgment do not apply to individuals in private nursing homes who entered homes under the nursing home subvention scheme.