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

As the Deputy rightly stated, the registration fee issue is for another discussion.

The €25 million has resulted in 300 extra approvals, with 65 approvals to come on stream in March. On top of these is the ongoing fair deal scheme allocation of 515 beds per month, as I outlined before Christmas when this issue was being discussed. The initiative should make some impact, but we must realise that we have an ageing population and this is winter, when even we get little infections that can be difficult to shift. We are determining what long-term plan needs to be in place to deal with this issue. I refuse to call it a problem, as it is simply part and parcel of what happens as we age. We need to plan for that, which is what we are doing. We have the statistics but planning is important and we are dealing with the issue in a comprehensive way.

As far as I know and apart from in community hospitals, which are non-acute, no beds are closed other than those that have been closed for reasons of infection control and so on.

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