The Cabinet is expected to decide today on how much money the State will pay to older people who had their pensions illegally deducted to pay for their nursing home care.
Yesterday the Minister for Finance confirmed that compensation arising from the ruling would result in lower Government spending. The Minister for Health, Ms Harney, said last week that discussions have yet to take place over what future services may be affected.
The Attorney General will brief Ministers today on the implications of last week's Supreme Court ruling which struck down the Government's attempt to retrospectively legalise the illegal nursing home charges over the last 20 years.
In particular he will address the implications of imposing a six-year statute of limitations on claims, which would bar many older people or their families from automatically recovering illegally-deducted money from their pensions.
Government officials are anxious to avoid the payments to older people and their families becoming embroiled in legal wrangling.
Already a number of solicitors are preparing claims for money which they say is owed to their clients if the statute is applied.
The cost to the State if the statute is applied would be in the region of €550 million. If it is not, Government officials now estimate the bill could be in the region of €1 billion instead of the €2 billion originally estimated.
One senior official said: "We don't want this becoming entrenched in legal proceedings. The scheme that is drawn up will have to be as fair and as lucrative to potential claimants as going down a legal route."
The Attorney General is expected to advise the Cabinet that the statute would not apply to certain categories of people in long-stay public institutions, such as intellectually-disabled people.
Ms Geraldine Clarke, a solicitor appointed by the Supreme Court to argue against the constitutionality of the Government legislation which attempted to retrospectively legalise nursing home charges, said the statute should not be invoked.
She said it would be "grossly unfair" of the Government to impose the six-year statute, given that the people affected were among the most vulnerable in the State and paid money to the State in the mistaken belief that they were obliged to do so.
A number of solicitors, meanwhile, are encouraging older people and their families to file claims for repayments on a "no foal no fee" basis in case the State opts to impose a six-year statute of limitation on payments.
Mr Bryan Fox, a Dublin-based solicitor, who is handling 50 such claims, said: "If you were in care in 1998 or 1999, then you're on the cusp of becoming statute-barred. I would advise anyone affected to go and see their solicitor immediately to ensure that clock stops ticking."
He also said he believed there was a "fair degree of a prospect for success" in challenging a statute limit.
"If the courts accept that the State concealed the right of action of people to recover money since 1976, then the statute will not run against those people ... I would foresee several test cases in that regard."
The Health Services Executive (HSE) is examining how the repayments would be made. It is likely to be in a similar manner to how "goodwill" payments of €2,000 are being paid to up to 20,000 older people in publicly-funded residential care.
A decision to make these ex gratia payments was made after the Attorney General confirmed last December that the practice of taking contributions from pensions and other allowances was "legally unsound".
