Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State has had a long afternoon and I am sure she will be well aware of this topic. I am sure it has been raised with her before. The Dean Maxwell Community Nursing Home in Roscrea is something that is cherished by the people of Roscrea and its surrounds. It has looked after its residents for a long time. It provides care that is second to none. It is an incredible unit based in the centre of the town.

There have been an awful lot of promises made about the unit. In the northern part of Tipperary there is a fantastic state-of-the-art public elderly care unit in Thurles, Community Hospital of the Assumption. In Nenagh a new 50-bed unit is being built, St. Conlon's Community Nursing Unit, beside the hospital. Work is commencing soon and it will be a fantastic facility. Roscrea is the other major town that has a public unit which needs to be rebuilt.

There is a history in regard to this. The people of the town have had enough. We need to get this sorted. HIQA has done inspections, which the unit has passed. I have all of the details, but on top of that we also need to ensure there are long-stay beds. It is not good enough to say that it will be turned into a short-stay facility. The people of Roscrea and surrounds will not tolerate that. I, as a public representative, will not tolerate that because those who are resident now and who will be resident there in the future want it to be a long-stay facility.

The building is very similar to St. Conlon's in Nenagh. It needs to be completely redone. It does not meet HIQA requirements in terms of single bedrooms, space, facilities and everything else. It is on a site in the middle of the town beside a church and is within walking distance of many people. The site can be rebuilt on. The council is willing to work with the HSE to build on the site if necessary. Before the last general election another public representative made a commitment that a new nursing home would be built in Roscrea. That seems to have disappeared.

We need to draw out a plan. We need more public beds and capacity in Tipperary so that we can look after the elderly. We need a plan for the home. I must commend the Minister of State's predecessor, Jim Daly. He was the first person to say that we will deal with the units and make sure it is a long-stay facility. I and other Deputies met him on 17 December in Government Buildings. He visited Roscrea with a local community group on 27 January. He gave assurances that under no circumstances would the unit be closed and that consideration would be given to how it would be funded. He gave assurances which were the most comprehensive assurances we had ever been given. To be fair to him, he was quite a good Minister.

We need to chart a plan for the nursing home because the community of Roscrea will not tolerate anything else. To be honest, neither will I. Other public representatives feel the same. We are all united in this. This has been going on for too long. The town has been let down in many ways. It has lost industry. No other issue unites the people of the town as much as this nursing home and its future. I ask the Minister of State to look at her funding capacity. We do not mind waiting as long as there is a plan.

See this speech in context