Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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Sorry, 84 beds is fairly reasonable but there is no statutory basis to those guidelines. Therefore, they are not a requirement for multinational investment funds, which most of them are now. This is monetising care and the Minister of State and her Government have allowed that to happen over the last four and a half years. The provision of care for elderly people is now much more about extracting returns on investments than providing quality care in a setting that is as close as possible to a family setting. We have moved far from that proper ideal model for older people. The current model is entirely unsuitable. For that reason, I do not know why this is not statutory-based guidance for nursing homes. There is no requirement to comply with the guidelines from HIQA.