Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If I can come in there, that is a proposed underspend but, as of 2 November this year, there were Covid outbreaks in 72 nursing homes. We continue to pay temporary assistance payments to any nursing home in which there is an outbreak of Covid. As I have said, Covid is not gone completely. As of the start of this month, it was in 72 nursing homes. That budget will also be used in that way. We could also see a spike in people presenting to nursing homes in December. My job is to make sure the budget is sufficient to last until the very last day of the year. We will continue to support the private nursing homes. As the Deputy will know, only a couple of weeks ago, we announced a scheme worth €10 million for inflationary energy costs.