McAleese to make Health Bill decision

President Mary McAleese is expected to make a decision tomorrow on whether to sign controversial Government legislation ordering elderly people to pay nursing home charges.

The Council of State met Mrs McAleese for over an hour at Áras an Uachtaráin today to discuss the Health Amendment (No 2) Bill, published last Wednesday.

Under the constitution, the President has until Friday to sign the legislation or refer it to the Supreme Court to decide if it is constitutional.

A spokesman for Mrs McAleese said tonight that she could announce her decision “as early as tomorrow“.

The Health Bill was urgently drafted after Attorney General Rory Brady warned that deductions from pensions for nursing home care were not lawful under existing law.

It quickly passed all stages in the Dáil and Seanad on Thursday.

Under the change, charges on elderly patients in state nursing homes and in private nursing home beds hired by health boards “are and always have been lawful“.

Last Sunday, Mrs McAleese announced that she had summoned the Council of State to meet to discuss the Bill.

The President has only called only three previous meetings of the Council of State – which renders “aid and counsel” on the constitutionality of legislation.

The Labour Party wrote to the President on Friday recommending such a move.