Ministers face blame in nursing home charge probe as bill estimate hits €3bn

TÁNAISTE Mary Harney yesterday signalled a major fallout from the nursing homes charges inquiry, with former ministers and officials facing the blame.

As opposition parties warned the cost of repaying the charges could escalate to €3 billion, Ms Harney confirmed the Government had been aware “for quite some time” that charging patients was illegal. She said maladministration in the Department of Health “doesn’t just affect public officials”.

“When we said we’d charge a levy we thought it was on the basis of good faith. In other words, that nobody knew what we were doing was wrong. That was not the case,” she said.