Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge what the Taoiseach said in that there are various initiatives in the pipeline but two nursing homes closed in County Roscommon and one closed in Athlone, County Westmeath last week. The lady was on RTÉ and the figures are public knowledge. She said that her nursing home received €950 per person per week but the local public nursing home received €1,915 per person per week. That is not tenable. No private nursing home could survive that black hole in funding provision.

The Taoiseach spoke about money given during Covid, which was most welcome, but we all remember the considerable restrictions and challenges and every cent of that was needed to deal with Covid. It did not deal with the underlying problem, that is, the funding mechanism under fair deal. I hope what I heard the Taoiseach say is that the initiatives he is now looking at will begin to deal with that. According to its most recent report, HIQA believes that the closure of smaller nursing homes requires urgent attention to avoid further closures impacting on the lives of residents, their families and friends. That is from HIQA; it requires urgent attention.

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