Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State but it is very disappointing that the senior Minister is not here to deal with this very serious matter.

Engaging with liquidators and the INMO in terms of redundancies is just not good enough in this situation. Let me finish reading the comments of some of the residents:

Let us have our lives back so we can laugh again. To break up our community and friendship would be akin to death. We have not committed any crime. What have we done to deserve this?

What the residents want is to know that they can continue to live in their homes. That means retaining the assisted-living housing, the community, the disability services and the nursing home, which are perfectly good. All the HSE has to do is say it will support an examinership. It should not allow a liquidation to go through that is a tactical liquidation based on manufactured insolvency. This is an institution that was financially washing its own face. Its so-called insolvency was manufactured on the basis of notional redundancy liabilities that would not exist unless the workers were being let go. If the workers are not let go and the services are maintained, there is no liability. The HSE has made it clear that it was willing to provide funding to meet the necessary standards and, indeed, the companies had money in the bank in any event so there is no need for these services to close. There is utterly no need to move the elderly residents who have lived in the homes for decades and to cause stress and anxiety. We do not want words about engagement and all the rest of it; the Government must instruct the HSE to keep the services, homes and community in place. If it decided to do this, and if there were sufficient political will, the anxiety and fear of the residents could be prevented, vital services for the disabled and visually impaired could be maintained and the jobs of the workers, who have provided dedicated service for the service users for many years, could be saved. That is what the Minister of State needs to do and we need a commitment to that effect.

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