The programme levies 3 separate charges on older people if they chose to rent out their home during their nursing home stay.
Up to 25,000 family homes are locked out of the housing market due to an anomaly in the Fair Deal Nursing Home Scheme.
The programme levies 3 separate charges on older people if they chose to rent out their home during their nursing home stay.
An estimated ,500 people leave behind an empty home when they enter long-term nursing home care
Independent TD, Denis Naughten, says just 300 of these homes are rented out.
“Unlike the social welfare means assessment where when a capital asset is rented out it is included in the calculation just once, under the Fair Deal Nursing Homes Support Scheme the same property is included three times in the means assessment.”
Denis Naughten added: “It also takes an average of six years for these homes to go through probate, to be sold and to be refurbished.
Deputy Naughten joined Clem Ryan on Thursday's edition of Kildare Today.