Nursing fees file sent to Martin's office, says key official

A senior official in the Department of Health has said it was widely held among civil servants that a controversial file seeking advice from the Attorney General on the legality of nursing home charges had been sent to the former minister for health, Micheál Martin.

Mr Martin has strongly denied that he ever saw the file containing the letter, which went missing and was never sent to the Attorney General's office.

Charlie Hardy, principal officer at the planning and evaluation division of the Department of Health, told the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children yesterday he had responsibility for long-stay charges and that he had attended part of the meeting of ministers and senior officials in the Gresham Hotel in December 2003 at which it was decided to seek advice from the Attorney General.

In evidence to the committee, which is investigating the nursing home charges controversy, Mr Hardy said papers for the Attorney General had been finalised by January 27th, 2004 and forwarded to the then secretary general of the Department of Health, Michael Kelly, for signature.

Questioned by Fianna Fáil Senator Geraldine Feeney about what he did when there was no response from the Attorney General in the following months, Mr Hardy said he understood the papers had gone to the minister's office.

Mr Hardy said he recognised that the issue was important and had potential implications. Asked by Ms Feeney as to why he did not inquire further about the issue, Mr Hardy said it was his understanding that the letter had gone to the office of the minister. "I did not feel that it was my position to interfere in that process," Mr Hardy stated.

He said that he knew from the minutes of the subsequent meeting of department officials and health board chiefs in March 2004 that the nursing home charge issue had again been raised. He said that there seemed to be some confusion as it was stated that legal advice had been sought. However he said it was again made clear to him that the letter was in the minister's office.

Asked by Progressive Democrats TD Fiona O'Malley as to who had led him to believe that the letter was in the minister's office, Mr Hardy said he had been told by someone in the department but that he could not remember who had done so.

Mr Hardy told the committee that "everybody else" in the department were of the same view that the letter seeking advice from the Attorney General had gone to the minister's office.

Assistant secretary at the Department of Health Dermot Smyth told the committee no briefing on the nursing home charges had been given to Mr Martin in advance of the issue appearing on the agenda for the meeting in the Gresham Hotel.

Mr Smyth said the department had received legal opinion obtained by the South Eastern Health Board in March 2003 which suggested that the charges were illegal and that this had been dealt with as part of an overall review of wider eligibility issues.