Elderly people with "modest assets" should be obliged to make a contribution to their own upkeep in retirement or nursing homes, Fine Gael's health spokeswoman has said.
Ms Olivia Mitchell said she did not agree with the view of the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, who says families should contribute to the cost of keeping older relatives in homes.
She also said it was unreasonable to expect the State to meet the entire expense of such accommodation.
This contrasts with the stance of the Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, who believes that every elderly person should expect the State to meet the cost of their upkeep as a right.
Care of the elderly would be an increasing drain on the taxpayer as a population aged, Ms Mitchell said. The State should not have to bear the full cost of caring for the elderly simply because their families were waiting to inherit their homes after their death.
There should be a "shared responsibility" between the State and the elderly to pay for their upkeep. "If they have an asset, they should make a contribution."
Ms Mitchell said she knew of a person speaking of securing State-funded accommodation for an elderly parent even though the parent had an unused home worth several million euro.
By contrast, she was also aware of people who had sold their parents' home and mortgaged their own home to pay for their upkeep in a private institution.
"The taxpayer should not be expected to pay for my nursing home if I have an asset worth £1 million," Ms Mitchell said.
Those with high value and "modest" homes should be obliged to make a contribution if other family members were not living in their home.
Such a system would be means-tested, obliging those with the valuable assets to make the biggest contribution.
Ms Mitchell described her views as personal pending a wider discussion within her party. She was not suggesting that the value of an "entire asset" should be realised to pay for retirement accommodation.
The tax system would never be able to raise enough money to pay for the upkeep of all elderly people, she said.
The problem would only worsen in the future given the demographic increase in the number of elderly people.
