S.I. No. 466/2016 - Health (Amendment) Act 2013 (Certain Provisions) (Commencement) Order 2016.


Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 9th September, 2016.

I, SIMON HARRIS, Minister for Health, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 2 (1) of the Health (Amendment) Act 2013 (No. 31 of 2013), hereby order as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the Health (Amendment) Act 2013 (Certain Provisions) (Commencement) Order 2016.

2. The day appointed as the day on which sections 8 and 19 of the Health (Amendment) Act 2013 (No. 31 of 2013) come into operation is 2 September 2016.

3. The day appointed as the day on which sections 7 (e)(ii), 9 , 10 , 11 (b) and 12 of the Health (Amendment) Act 2013 (No. 31 of 2013) come into operation is 1 January 2017.

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GIVEN under my Official Seal,

2 September 2016.

SIMON HARRIS,

Minister for Health.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

The primary purpose of this commencement order is to bring into operation, on 1 January 2017, sections of the Health (Amendment) Act 2013 , which include provisions for—

• Repealing section 53 of the Health Act 1970 relating to charges for in-patient services (both acute and long-stay non-acute in-patient services).

• Introducing a replacement framework, under section 53C of the Health Act 1970 , of charges for acute in-patient services.

• Introducing a new framework, under sections 67A to 67D* of the Health Act 1970 , of maintenance and accommodation contributions payable by recipients of long-stay non-acute residential support services and of waivers from those contributions in certain circumstances.

*as amended by Part 3 of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014

The other main purpose of this commencement order is to enable the making of regulations on or after 2 September 2016 under the new section 67C* of the Health Act 1970 . This is to ensure that service providers may undertake necessary preparatory work in advance of the full commencement of the residential support services maintenance and accommodation contributions framework, in parallel with the repeal of section 53 of the Health Act 1970 , on 1 January 2017.

The commencement order also provides for a number of required technical and consequential amendments.

*as amended by Part 3 of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014