Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is nice to see Senator Currie in the Leader’s chair. Good luck with that.

I wish to raise the issue of rural nursing homes and the lack of footpaths and lighting outside them.Despite all of the money that is going into active travel, nothing is being given to help nursing homes put facilities in place so that loved ones can take their mother, father, uncle, aunt or whoever for a walk, whether in a wheelchair or otherwise, outside the nursing home. They simply cannot afford to do it. A number of such cases in Galway and Roscommon have been raised with me. When I asked that the Minister be invited to discuss this, I was told he had no responsibility in that regard. I got a letter from the Cathaoirleach to that effect but we must address this issue. If a nursing home is in a town, there are street lights, footpaths and so on but if it is in a rural area, there is none of that. There are many nursing homes in rural areas. I ask that the Minister would be invited again. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, would be delighted to come in to address this issue. We should be able to arrive at a situation whereby the local authorities would be able to give some money to the owners of nursing homes. Many owners are willing to invest themselves to help but they cannot do it all on their own because it is a costly job. Of course, they also have to have the permission of the local authority. That is my call this morning and I hope we will get some progress on it.