Legislation for repaying of illegal nursing home fees agreed

The Government today agreed the text of legislation for repaying illegal nursing home charges.

The Repayment Scheme Bill will be published next week, and will provide for money to be repaid to all those who were wrongly charged.

The estates of those who were wrongly charged who have died since December 9, 1998 will also be paid.

The total bill is expected to reach €1bn, with over 60,000 people due to get repayments.

Tánaiste Mary Harney said the scheme would be simple to use and that repayments would be made swiftly.

She promised to priortise those applicants who are still alive.

The Government has also agreed a Bill to be published soon which will establish an office of the Chief Social Service Inspector.

Part of its work will be to inspect public nursing homes, as well as private nursing homes, which are currently inspected by the HSE.