Concern is emerging in Clare over qualification rules for the planned overhaul of the Fair Deal scheme.
Under the current system, farm families and small business owners have to set aside 7.5 percent of the value of their land or business every year to fund a place for their loved ones in a nursing home.
New proposed rules would see that capped at three years but in order to qualify, the successors to the parent entering the nursing home must commit to staying on at the farm or business for the next six years.
Geraldine O’Connell, who is the IFA’s Clare Farm Family Committee Chairperson, has been telling Clare FM’s James Mulhall that it’s a welcome development overall: