Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)

Over the next ten years, there will be a population increase among people over 65 or 66 years of age from approximately 860,000 at present to over 1 million. I am not saying that nursing homes are the answer for everyone. Obviously, home care is the ideal scenario but a certain element will require full-time nursing home care. Are we doing enough forward planning in this whole area? We are not going to see any substantial increase in the public sector. Therefore, we have to make sure funding is available to deal with the challenges that are there.