Mattie McGrath urges clarity on statutory instruments for care
Mattie McGrath spoke on 14 Jul 2021 about a bill that will be accompanied by statutory instruments and warned the lack of detail could unfairly affect family farms, self-employed people and those facing nursing-home costs. He pressed the minister for clarity on what orders will follow the bill and said the legislation has been rushed without enough time for debate.
Main concern about statutory instruments
McGrath said the devil is in the details and expressed worry that many crucial measures will be left to statutory instruments rather than included in the bill. He wants fairness and transparency about what the minister intends to introduce after the bill is passed.
Impact on family farms and small businesses
He highlighted the potential effect on family farm households and self-employed tradespeople - shop owners, hardware stores and others whose assets are their tools and means of earning a living. McGrath praised work done by people including Marla Canning and said the proposals could strip assets people rely on to make money.
Nursing-home costs and retrospective cases
McGrath raised the human difficulty of families who have accrued large nursing-home bills over many years and suggested some cases may hope for relief through the legislation. He acknowledged most laws are not retrospective but stressed there are hard individual stories that need to be considered.
Timing, debate and unanswered questions
He criticised the pace of proceedings as rushed and said there has not been enough time for full debate. McGrath closed by repeating his request to know precisely which statutory instruments and orders the minister will make once the bill is enacted and thanked Colonel Goner at the end of his remarks.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Well, Mark, good night. Thank you for being on the call. We made a letterous New York Lake tour. Look, Minister, I know you've done a lot of work on it, and I want to see with a lot of people over the last decade, really, working on this, especially Marla Canning, I couldn't say enough for, was it the farm families up on the IFE, and she told you to work. And there's obviously a huge difficulty to see with this, because the last two years has been promised for every session, and we're told to come in the next session, and the next session, and before Christmas, and before summer. Now it's finally arrived, and I'm worried at the fact that, you know, that you're going to, you told us, introduce a number of statutory instruments, and are not dealt with in the bill here. And the devil is in the details, we all know. But look, there has to be fairness. I mean, it's not only family families, but also self-imposed businessmen, because there's been a shop, or whether it be, you know, a hardware store, or whether it be whatever, many areas. Those people have to, you know, work out, and the asset is their tool. It's not, it's their ability to end the living. It's not an income guaranteed. It's just the means of earning a living. And I honestly believe that the kids, some time ago, I put a cash sticker in my wife's car, and said, be nice to your kids, they pick your nursing home. They choose your nursing home, and it's a very strange room. But this is making it very complicated. God forbid, if a man or a woman, and are both bread earners, and both very pivotal in those business I'm talking about, are they a family farm, or a family business. And if the assets are going to be stripped away like this, and deny them the right, they have no assets to make the money, and then the complications of the second partner, and the complications of the young adult children, are they going to wait around for six years. So there's a lot of issues to be teased out. And we must, I know most legislation, or nearly any, any, all legislation is never retrospective. But in this case, in the case of human, difficult stories of families, where there have been a nursing home for a long number of years, huge bills accrued, and no hope of paying them, and depending on this bill, maybe to do something. So, I'm glad it's been rushed through, but not enough time for debate, but I honestly wish that we knew what these instruments are going to be, and what orders the Minister are going to make after the fact the bill is passed. Thank you, Colonel Goner.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
