Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

It is hard to say all one wishes to say in two minutes but I will try. People have referred to the fact that there are so many private nursing homes. Only 5% of the population end up in nursing homes but the difficulty is that there appears to be a rush on the part of the Government to allow people to make money out of older people. While there are very fine people doing that, unscrupulous people will cut corners and care standards will suffer.

An independent inspection system is most important. It should be extended across the board. Why do exemptions exist? Currently, only institutions that are registered under the nursing homes Act will be visited. Why are there exemptions under this Act for institutions that have "handicapped people"? That should not be the case. How would the State institutions fare under the inspections that nursing homes get? I doubt that many of them would fare well given their decrepit and old, falling buildings. That must come, however, and the sooner the better. There should be no exceptions.

Approximately 95% of people will remain at home and there must be support for them. I was disappointed that when I met the Minister of State with the Irish Council for Social Housing it was not possible to increase the funding, except marginally, for a defined revenue funding scheme to keep people in their communities. The Government pays lip service to that. I welcome the improvements in that regard, in the home subvention scheme and so forth, but a defined revenue funding scheme could have taken 20% of people out of the nursing home situation.

Funding uncertainty for people in nursing homes should be rectified. Our spending on social protection for older people is just 60% of the EU average. We should spend more and it should be spent on keeping people in their homes and, when that is not possible, in sheltered housing. That should be supported by a defined revenue funding scheme. The scheme needs €2 million, not €500,000.

See this speech in context