Ms Bernadette McNally:

We regularly receive complaints about the service provided by a private nursing home and we have to say "No" to those people. Mr. Tyndall has raised the issue with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and there is provision in the 2012 Act for the Minister to allow us to follow significant funding. The fair deal funding, or the nursing home support scheme as it is properly called, involves a substantial amount of public funding which the Ombudsman believes we should follow. We will be pursuing the matter further with the Department.