Listen: AgriFocus - Fair Deal and the family farm
May 21, 2025 5:06 pm
In this episode of AgriFocus Francess McDonnell is joined by Ann Griffin, regional advocate for the north-west with Sage Advocacy – which is the National Advocacy Service for Older People – to chat about what happens to the family farm if an older person needs to consider nursing home care.
According to Ann Griffin there can be a deep fear among some farmers and their families about what it will mean for the future of the farm if they sign up to the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, also known as the Fair Deal – which provides financial support to help pay for the cost of nursing home care.
The regional advocate said that some people fear this will mean the end of the farm, but she said this is not the case.
She told the AgriFocus podcast that under the Fair Deal scheme an individual pays a certain amount towards the total cost of nursing home care and the HSE then pays the remainder.
This is based on the HSE carrying out a financial assessment to work out how much an individual may need to pay towards their nursing home care and this is based on their income and their assets.
There are two types of assets assessed – cash assets and non-cash assets – which includes a person's home, any land they may own and farms.
There is a 3-year cap limit on how much a person pays towards nursing home care as part of the Fair Deal scheme – that includes homes, farms and businesses – but there are also conditions which Ann has advised older people must be aware of.
During this episode of the AgriFocus the regional advocate for Sage Advocacy also highlighted some of the key issues facing people who getting older in rural Ireland today.
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