The Minister for Finance has warned that the compensation bill resulting from last week's Supreme Court ruling on nursing home charges will result in lower spending elsewhere in the health service.
Brian Cowen said the Attorney General, Rory Brady, will be advising the Government on the legal situation tomorrow, and that the Government will try to deal with the matter speedily.
The State will now have to compensate those who were illegally charged in nursing homes at a cost of at least €500 million, and possibly much more.
The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament has reacted with shock to Mr Cowen's warning.
In a statement tonight, it calls on the Government to borrow the money and not take it from the existing budget, arguing that buoyant public finances allow such an approach.
The organisation's chief executive, Michael O'Halloran, says anything which would adversely affect the Health Service will further compound the situation as far as older people are concerned.
Cowen addresses SSIAs lobbying
Earlier today Mr Cowen also spoke about the financial industry lobbying for a renewal of the Special Savings Incentives Account scheme, or SSIAs, next year.
He said those who saved are entitled to get their money back, and that he does not buy the idea that having been prudent about saving the money, people are going to go out and splurge it or act irresponsibly.
Mr Cowen also said that the resignation of Phil Flynn from the committee overseeing the Government's decentralisation programme is a big loss.
Last Friday Mr Flynn confirmed that he was a non-executive director of the Cork-based company Chesterton Finance, which is at the centre of the garda investigation into alleged IRA money laundering.
Mr Cowen said Mr Flynn's resignation was the right decision given the circumstances.
