Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is the Government’s intention to have a combination of residences available to people in the scheme, a significant proportion of which will include the public sector. We have 129 public long-stay nursing homes residences. We cannot afford to lose any one of them whether it is at Shaen, Abbeyleix or Cork. We are in constant negotiation with HIQA, the Health Information and Quality Authority, about how that can be managed. We have made it very clear that we cannot afford to lose any of them. I am a great believer in public service and will continue to be. The public service provides a different service than that provided by the private sector. The private sector does an extraordinary job in certain circumstances but both are needed in this area. Both need to co-operate in this area too.

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