New ‘Fair Deal’ is agreed at last

THERE has been a ‘guarded and cautious welcome’ from Galway farming representatives to the confirmation last week that the new Fair Deal nursing home legislation has been approved by Cabinet.

As reported in the Farming Tribune of April 23 last, under the agreed legislative changes, the 7.5% annual levy-charge on the value of the farm – where a farmer or spouse is being cared for in a nursing home – will now be capped at three years.

Galway IFA Chairperson, Anne Mitchell, said that while it was very welcome news to hear that the legislation had been passed by Cabinet, it had been long overdue, and over the years families had lost their farms in cases where there was lengthy nursing home care required.

“The bad news is that this will not be retrospective in terms of the crippling financial burdens that many farm families have endured over the years.

“It has in many cases been an ongoing hardship for farm families and it has in cases led to the eventual sale of the family holding. This was most unjust,” said Anne Mitchell.

The amendment to the Nursing Home Supports Scheme – known as the Fair Deal – was announced last week by Minister of State for Older People, Mary Butler.

The key change is that when this legislation is enacted, a three-year cap on the payment of the annual 7.5% value of the farm payment will be put in place.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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