Cabinet approval of changes to the Fair Deal nursing home scheme will prove bittersweet for some farm families, as it comes too late for them. They will not be able to claw back thousands of euro in fees already paid.

Currently, a farm family is charged 7.5% of the value of their farm every year towards the care of a loved one in a nursing home, with some farmers charged up to €25,000/year.

Changes

Long-awaited changes that were promised since a review of Fair Deal in 2015 will now cap the payment period to just three years.

Mary Butler TD, Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, said she anticipated that the bill would receive broad, cross-party support, as it still has to pass through both houses of the Oireachtas.