McAleese to ask: are nursing home charges repugnant to Constitution?

THE Government’s nursing home payment crisis worsened last night when President Mary McAleese called a meeting of the Council of State to consider aspects of legislation rushed through last week.

It is the third time since taking office in 1997 that Ms McAleese has convened the group to consider the constitutionality of laws sent to her for approval. The President may call upon the body for “aid and counsel” under Article 26 of the Constitution. The article allows the President to refer a bill to the Supreme Court for a “decision on the question as to whether such bill or any specified provision or provisions of such bills is or are repugnant to this Constitution or to any provision thereof”.

The Health Amendment (No 2) Bill 2004 was received by the President on Friday evening after it had passed all stages in the Dáil and the Seanad. It was introduced by Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney on Thursday as a measure to prevent further compensation claims from residents of public nursing homes who had been illegally charged for their care. If the bill is enacted, elderly people living in such institutions would have to pay 80% of their State pensions towards the cost.

A spokesperson for Ms Harney declined last night to comment on Ms McAleese’s decision to call the meeting, due to take place at Áras an Úachtaráin tomorrow afternoon.

The President’s office issued a statement announcing her decision yesterday afternoon and a spokesperson indicated that there are a number of issues that Ms McAleese would like to discuss with the council. Its members include Ms Harney, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and previous Taoisigh, Liam Cosgrave, Dr Garret FitzGerald, Charles Haughey, John Bruton and Albert Reynolds, Chief Justice John Murray, as well as more recent appointees of Ms McAleese including Fianna Fáil Senator Martin Mansergh and Special Olympics chief executive Mary Davis.

The issue became a political hot potato after it emerged from advice of Attorney General Rory Brady that the practice of taking up to 80% of medical card owners’ pensions and allowances as part of a contribution to the cost of their public nursing home care was legally unsound. It has since been accepted by the Government that such payments were illegal and Ms Harney announced last week that payments of up to €2,000 will be made to up to 20,000 patients who had been charged.

However, legal experts and opposition parties criticised the Government’s moves as a way of trying retrospectively to block compensation claims from those patients who had paid the illegal charges to their local health boards. Former Health Minister Micheál Martin also faces tough questions as to when he knew about legal concerns regarding the issue.

The last occasion Ms McAleese convened the Council of State was with regard to a section of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No 2) Bill in April 2002.

In June 2000, the President referred the Planning and Development Bill 1999 and the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Bill 1999 to the Supreme Court after consulting with the Council of State. She subsequently signed both bills into law.