Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am aware that the HSE's capital plan 2022 has been announced. I welcome that. There are two issues that I wish to raise. One concerns the amount of funding going into public nursing homes. Such funding is most welcome. I am wondering if we are looking at efficiency in public nursing homes and the cost of running them, compared with what it costs to place a patient in a private nursing home, for instance, under the fair deal scheme. In a private nursing home it costs around €1,000 per bed per week, whereas a public nursing home, it costs around €1,650 per bed per week. While I welcome the provision of funding, I think we also need to look at efficiency. The second point I wish to raise concerns-----