Chase is on to succeed Naughten

Several prospective election candidates locally are keenly reassessing their prospects in the wake of Denis Naughten’s unexpected announcement that he is to bring his political career to an end.

An intense battle for the Dáil seat held by Naughten for over a quarter of a century is now underway. In a statement issued on Monday, Deputy Naughten confirmed that he will not contest the next general election. It signalled that the curtain is set to fall on a very prominent Dáil career and means one of Roscommon’s leading politicians of the past quarter-century is exiting the stage. As matters stand, Fine Gael are slight favourites to benefit electorally from Naughten’s decision to opt out of politics.

In reality, it is impossible to definitively gauge the local implications of Naughten’s exit from the political scene until the outcome of the latest constituency boundaries’ review is known later this year. If the current Roscommon-Galway constituency were to remain in place, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil would both see Naughten’s absence from the ballot paper as a boost to their respective bids to regain a Dáil seat here.

Amongst the politicians who this week are assessing the fallout from Naughten’s pending exit are sitting TDs Michael Fitzmaurice (tipped by many to follow suit and run in the next European elections instead) and Claire Kerrane, Senators Aisling Dolan and Eugene Murphy, and Cllrs. Paschal Fitzmaurice, John Keogh and John Naughten (brother of Denis). For more, see pages 15 & 19.

Refunds of Illegal Nursing Home Charges

There is a significant political controversy arising in respect of nursing home residents who may have been “illegally charged” for care. As a result, many medical card holders during the period of 1976 to 2005 had to pay for nursing home care when it should have been free.

The controversy arises in situations where the Government devised a legal strategy so they would not have to reimburse residents of nursing homes & their families in situations where the payment of such fees was not required.

The basis of such reimbursements would have entitled older people who were eligible for medical cards and therefore entitled to free nursing home care, however some of these individuals were allocated places in private nursing homes due to lack of space in public facilities. These individuals and their families were ultimately charged for their care which became illegal in 2005. Patients who had been unlawfully charged for these services had the right to sue in order to recover damages.

It has been suggested to the Department of Health that our Irish Government undertook a legal plan so that they would not have to refund those affected by these illegal charges due to the sizeable nature of the refunds involved, estimated to be in the region of €12 billion. Only a percentage of these cases have since been settled and some receiving only a partial refund.

If you or any of your family members have been affected by these illegal charges, please contact our office at 090 6478433 or email us at info@bccsolicitors.ie if you require more information or assistance.

This column is prepared by Dolores Gacquin, Solicitor. Byrne Carolan Cunningham have offices in Athlone, Moate, Lanesborough and Galway.

A person should always contact their solicitor to obtain legal advice specific to their own situation. The above column contains general information and cannot be relied upon as legal advice. * In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement

Byrne Carolan Cunningham SOLICITORS

Telephone Central Line 090 6478433 info@bccsolicitors.ie www.bccsolicitors.ie