An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said on Tuesday that legislation introducing a three-year cap on nursing home charges to family business assets including farms would come before the Oireachtas “in the next session” starting in the new year.

He was replying to independent Offaly TD Carol Nolan, who called for “urgency” in the process. “Farming families in my constituency are really struggling,” Deputy Nolan said.

IFA representatives met Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People Jim Daly on Wednesday and were told that his department was still clarifying property and succession legal issues before submitting a bill. This is understood to include procedures to claw back charges if a family successor fails to continue farming for a minimum of six years. The IFA is also insisting that family members who may be away from the farm be allowed to take over after a farmer enters the Fair Deal scheme, and benefit from the three-year cap.